This little book is the company building philosophy of David Ogilvy broken down into bite-sized pieces. Buffett called Ogilvy a genius and this is a list of ideas Ogilvy wanted to pass on: 1. Discovery consists of seeing what everyone has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. 2. Those who live by their wits go to work on roller coasters. The ride is exhilarating, but you need a stomach of titanium. 3. Rule #1: There are no rules. Rule #2: Never forget rule #1. 4. Only dead fish go with the flow. 5. God is with those who persevere. 6. Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius. (Peter Thiel) 7. Fear is a demon that devours the soul of a company. 8. Self-doubt is the enemy of creativity. 9. How great we become depends on the size of our dreams. Dream big dreams. 10. If you asked an oracle the secret to doing great work and the oracle replied with a single word my bet would be on “curiosity” (Paul Graham) 11.If you have to choose between agreement and conflict, take conflict every time. It always yields a better result. (Jeff Bezos) 12. It's the cracked ones that let light into the world. (Talent is likely to be found among nonconformists, dissenters, and rebels.) 13.The leader of the company has one principal responsibity: provide an atmosphere in which creative mavericks can do useful work. 14.Bureaucracy has no place in an ideas company. 15.Have a habit of divine discontent with your performance. It is an antidote to smugness. 16.Dogged determination is often the only trait that separates a moderately creative person from a highly creative one. 17.We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit. (Aristotle) 18.Our character is a composite of our habits. 19.Habits constantly, daily, express who we really are. 20. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. Before them, obstacles vanish into thin air and mountains crumble into atoms. 21. People don’t have ideas. Ideas have people. 22. The best leaders give their people permission to practice magic. They get rid of sad dogs who spread gloom. 23. Habit is overcome by habit. 24. If we avoid candor we destroy trust. 25. You fight against the tyranny of politeness by telling the truth. 26. Making great work requires us to be brutally honest and totally dedicated to the truth. 27. In the absence of courage, nothing worthwhile can be accomplished. 28. Intense curiosity keeps you young. When we're green we grow, when we're ripe we rot. (Ray Kroc) 29. DON'T BOW YOUR HEAD. 30. DON'T KNOW YOUR PLACE. 31. DON'T SIT BACK. 32. DON'T GIVE IN. 33. DON'T GIVE UP. 34. DON'T WIN SILVERS. 35. DON'T BE SO EASILY HAPPY WITH YOURSELF. 36. DON'T BE SPINELESS. 37. DON'T BE GUTLESS. 38. DON'T BE TOADIES. 39. DON'T GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT. 40. DEFY THE GODS. 41. We are the people we have been waiting for.