“Companies die because their managers focus on the economic activity of producing goods and services, and they forget that their organizations' true nature is that of a community of humans.”
Source: The Living Company, 1997, p. 3
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Arie de Geus 6
Dutch businessman 1930Related quotes

Source: "The Broadened Responsibilities of Industry's Executive," 1936, p. 358; Also in Sloan & Sparkes (1941, 145); Partly cited in: Roland Marchand (1997, p. 83)

Benedetto Croce, The Philosophy of Giambattista Vico. trans. R. G. Collingwood, London 1923.

A manager develops people.
Source: 1930s- 1950s, The Practice of Management (1954), p. 344
Source: Onward Industry!, 1931, p. 14-15; As cited in: Morgen Witzel (2003) Fifty Key Figures in Management. p. 197-8

Source: The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing (1949), Chapter II, The Investor and Stock-Market Fluctuations, p. 44

“Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity.”
Quoted in: Fayek S. Hourani (2012) Daily Bread for Your Mind and Soul, p. 336.