Estuardo Porras Quotes

For Builders, the real definition of success is a life and work that brings personal fulfillment and lasting relationships and makes a difference in the world in which they live. ~ Jerry I. Porras

Enduringly successful people, many of whom live a life that's a gift to the world, don't raise balance as a major issue-not because they had it masterfully handled, but because they were all busy doing what mattered to them. ~ Jerry I. Porras

Extraordinary individuals take one step back and two steps forward with most every challenge-and sometimes two steps back to one step forward. They harvest useful lessons and knowledge from what doesn't work, and they display a remarkable resiliency; and ability to bounce back from adversity. ~ Jerry I. Porras

The thing that matters is meaning! It drives everything. Builders align their attention to the things that matter to them, and they know a lot about that stuff. ~ Jerry I. Porras

For most Builders, the journey is like shooting for the moon and instead hitting Mars-perhaps a better, but different outcome than envisioned. Builders are the first to admit (at least, in private) that planning works, but as the adage goes, the plan itself, rarely does. ~ Jerry I. Porras

Do or do not. There is no try, says Yoda, the bewitching philosopher warrior created by George Lucas in Star Wars. Yoda is quoted at least as often as the founding fathers on this topic. ~ Jerry I. Porras

When you put together deep knowledge about a subject that intensely matters to you, charisma happens. You gain courage to share your passion, and when you do that, folks follow. ~ Jerry Porras

All apostolic ministry in some sense involves this return to the founding message as well as purpose. The missional task that follows is to reinterpret it radically into various contexts. To use the words of leadership gurus Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, the key to dynamic entrepreneurialism is to "preserve the core and stimulate progress."15 Thus, there is both a continuity and a discontinuity in the revitalization process, involving both a conservative dimension and a radical one. Radical traditionalism involves a rediscovery of the founder's vision, but it must be matched with spectacular innovations that are as yet undreamed of.16 As such, it is the apostolic intrapreneur's (the Petrine apostle) basic method of renewal. ~ Alan Hirsch

Preserve the core, and let the rest flux. In their wonderful bestseller Built to Last, authors James Collins and Jerry Porras make a convincing argument that long-lived companies are able to thrive 50 years or more by retaining a very small heart of unchanging values, and then stimulating progress in everything else. At times "everything" includes changing the business the company operates in, migrating, say, from mining to insurance. Outside the core of values, nothing should be exempt from flux. Nothing. ~ Kevin Kelly

Success in the long run has less to do with finding the best idea, organizational structure, or business model for an enterprise, than with discovering what matters to us as individuals. ~ Jerry I. Porras