Downsizing Quotes

• In practice, downsizing is too often about cutting your work force while keeping your business the same, and doing so not by investments in productivity-enhancing technology, but by making people pull 80-hour weeks and bringing in temps to fill the gap.

  James Surowiecki

  Cutting, Technology, Practice

  5 Copy quote

• A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.

  Steve Jobs

  Inspirational, Business, Educational

  Steve Jobs (0101). “Motivating Thoughts of Steve Jobs”, p.32, Prabhat Prakashan

  51 Copy quote

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• Downsizing itself is an inevitable part of any creatively destructive economy.

  James Surowiecki

  Insightful, Marketing, Economy

  3 Copy quote

• My agent said, "You aren't good enough for movies." I said, "You're fired."

  Sally Field

  Agents, Good Enough, Said

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  18 Copy quote

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• I think re-engineering or restructuring or downsizing or rightsizing or whatever you want to call it, it's basically firing, has gone way too far. Employees, as I've talked to them across the country, feel that they are not respected, they are not valued, they are worried about their jobs. They simply feel that the company is no longer loyal to them. Why should they be loyal to the company, they ask me. Why should I go the extra mile? Why should I care?

  Robert Reich

  Country, Jobs, Business

  11 Copy quote

• My mother always wanted me to be glamorous. When I thought about that, it really fired me up, and once I lost all those pounds, I started to feel really good about myself.

  Etta James

  Mother, Pounds, Lost

  5 Copy quote

• It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.

  Thomas Jefferson

  War, Patriotic, Fire

  Thomas Jefferson, Brett F. Woods (2009). “Thomas Jefferson: Thoughts on War and Revolution : Annotated Correspondence”, p.140, Algora Publishing

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• A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Leadership, Determination, Optimistic

  Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi, Homer A. Jack (2005). “The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi”, p.55, Courier Corporation

  53 Copy quote

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• In the days when corporate downsizing was all the rage, Wall Street took a lot of flak for judging companies too harshly and setting the bar for corporate performance so high that executives felt their only option was to slash payrolls.

  James Surowiecki

  Wall, Judging, Bars

  3 Copy quote

• Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Peace, Military, War

  Speech to American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington, D.C., 16 Apr. 1953

  157 Copy quote

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• Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.

  George Carlin

  Funny, Money, Work

  George Carlin (2015). “3 x Carlin: An Orgy of George including Brain Droppings, Napalm and Silly Putty, and When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?”, p.206, Hachette UK

  81 Copy quote

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• It's hard to get fired from the government. You have to, like, kill people.

  Wanda Sykes

  Government, People, Comedy

  4 Copy quote

• The company calls it 'downsizing' or 'rightsizing.' My own informal "Name the Layoff" contest produced some other euphemisms: Retroactive Hiring Freeze, Resume Revision Days, Amway Opportunity Time, and Corporation Lite.

  Dale Dauten

  Opportunity, Names, Insightful

  3 Copy quote

• 'Dilbert' became popular during the downsizing of the '90s, and job security was a major theme of the strip.

  Scott Adams

  Jobs, Dilbert, Theme

  3 Copy quote

• Then, in the 1980's, came the paroxysm of downsizing, and the very nature of the corporation was thrown into doubt. In what began almost as a fad and quickly matured into an unshakable habit, companies were 'restructuring,' 'reengineering,' and generally cutting as many jobs as possible, white collar as well as blue . . . The New York Times captured the new corporate order succinctly in 1987, reporting that... 'All such allegiances are viewed as expendable under the new rules. With survival at stake, only market leadership, strong profits and a high stock price can be allowed to matter'.

  Barbara Ehrenreich

  Strong, Jobs, New York

  9 Copy quote

• The corporate killer downsizing is directly responsive to what the mutual funds have wanted.

  Jim Cramer

  Killers, Mutual Fund, Economy

  3 Copy quote

• Much of what is called investment is actually nothing more than mergers and acquisitions, and of course mergers and acquisitions are generally accompanied by downsizing.

  Susan George

  Acquisition, Mergers, Investment

  3 Copy quote

• We should because when coaches get fired, the players have a lot to do with it.

  Allen Iverson

  Basketball, Player, Should

  Inside Hoops Interview, www.insidehoops.com. February 14, 2004.

  3 Copy quote

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• Coaching is nothing more than eliminating mistakes before you get fired.

  Lou Holtz

  Inspirational, Motivational, Sports

  4 Copy quote

• I have had hundreds of people work for me over the years, and I don't think I ever fired anybody.

  Tom T. Hall

  Thinking, Years, People

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• In this remarkable time for the world, I refuse to believe it's time to stop believing in the possibilities of our remarkable country. I refuse to accept the downsizing of the American Dream. I refuse to bet against American entrepreneurial spirit and American ingenuity.The competition's tough, and it requires us to be tougher - tough-minded, never hard hearted.

  John F. Kerry

  Dream, Country, Believe

  13 Copy quote

• Learn to say no in situations where saying no can be difficult, where it could mean getting fired. Say no anyway, because it could lead you to greater opportunities.

  Samuel Dash

  Mean, Opportunity, Saying No

  9 Copy quote

• Managers tend to treat organizations as if they are infinitely plastic. They hire and fire, merge, downsize, terminate programs, add capacities. But there are limits to the shifts that organizations can absorb.

  Kevin Kelly

  Fire, Organization, Add

  2 Copy quote

• You never ask why you've been fired because if you do, they're liable to tell you.

  Jerry Coleman

  Liable, Asks, Ifs

  7 Copy quote

• I used to be a window cleaner. I got fired because I sometimes liked to drink the soapy water.

  Jamelia

  Water, Sometimes, Window

  4 Copy quote