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Erik Prince Quotes

Total quotes: 3
“The Big Three automakers loved that my father backed his research and development with his own funds; if prototypes failed, he took on all the losses. The approach made him relentless and tactical; every mistake the company made was documented and chronicled in a notebook he stored in his office desk. He called those mistakes 'humbling gifts.'”
— Erik Prince, Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater
Tagged: Errors = Portals Of Discovery, Humbling Gifts, Mistakes, Relentless, Your Money
“Blackwater's dedication to efficiency formed the cornerstone of our entire corporate culture. It was perhaps the ultimate benefit of our streamlined hierarchy: The company had one owner— me— so no stockholders to answer to. There was no board of directors to argue with, and no interminable bureaucracy of a government organization. I could delegate much of my authority, or choose to stand a post overseas. We were nimble and aggressive. And as I learned a few short months later, that approach to our work made quite an impression.”
— Erik Prince, Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater
Tagged: Against Bureaucracy, being at the right place at the right time, Blackwater, Jim; Moynihan, or even being just plain lucky. Paul, Ownership, Power, Power Dynamics
“On the morning of my forty-second birthday, I got a call from my mother. 'Happy birthday,' she said. 'Remember, your dad was forty-two when he had his first attack.' The men in my family don't tend to grow old. I think about that sometimes, when I see my teenage kids dig through the refrigerator in the kitchen, or hear them talk about summer plans, or even joke about the latest boy to approach one of my daughters at the beach… I wonder about the future whenever there's tightness in my chest when I deal with lawyers and legacy problems from my time with Blackwater... It makes me think about my life's work. Because when it comes to Blackwater, if I had it all to do over again, I'm not sure I would. At the very least, I'd be more selective in the federal departments I worked for. Otherwise, I might just send a note back to 1998 and tell myself to go start my own manufacturing business. Or do something else entirely in a different part of the world— anything, anyplace. I'm still haunted by an incident that involved my accountant: As he escorted a veteran IRS agent around my farm during yet another tax audit, the officer mentioned how in twenty-five years of handling high-profile tax cases, he had 'never been under so much pressure to get someone as to get Erik Prince.' I'm just not sure what good I gained from the path I chose, or what part of America it is that craves that sort of relentless political persecution.”
— Erik Prince, Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater
Tagged: Businesses in Retrospect, Capitalism, Health, Heart Attack, IRS
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