Edward Lampert Quotes
101 Edward Lampert Quotes (Eddie Lampert, ESL Investments, Sears Quotes)
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You can’t wait for an opportunity to become obvious.
Edward Lampert
In investing, you constantly make decisions under conditions of uncertainty.
Edward Lampert
You either adapt or you die.
Edward Lampert
If you’re unwilling to try new things and to fail and learn, you don’t have a shot.
Edward Lampert
If you don’t have a clue, why invest?
Edward Lampert
The notion of spending money on the business – I’m not opposed to it. I just want a return for it.
Edward Lampert
[In 2006] I want to be known as a great businessman.
Edward Lampert
[In 2009] The goal is not just survival, it’s progress.
Edward Lampert
[In 2013] It’s never a good time for a transition…
Edward Lampert
[In 2013] We just have to perform.
Edward Lampert
We try to stay very focused.
Edward Lampert
For any company, you need to have an overarching philosophy to guide operations for profitability.
Edward Lampert
You cannot pay people irrespective of performance.
Edward Lampert
You have to try new things.
Edward Lampert
You have to try to change.
Edward Lampert
[In 2002] I tell people in advance what our practices are. If they don’t like those practices, they have a choice not to invest.
Edward Lampert
[On learning about the stock market from his grandmother] She owned a handful of stocks, IBM and AT&T. She always wanted a good dividend. In her simplicity, she was profound.
Edward Lampert
[On his grandmother’s investing.] I thought she was good, but I never calculated her returns.
Edward Lampert
[In 2002] I want to be with people who can challenge me to be better.
Edward Lampert
Most of the ideas come from me. I am the only person who has the ability to allocate capital.
Edward Lampert
[In 2002 on avoiding investing in dotcoms] Most businesses, as they grow, have a model where they make more money as they get more customers. Internet companies seemed to lose more money as that happened.
Edward Lampert
Average investors like themes. A lot of times you pay a high price for the vision, and you can lose 80 percent of your money.
Edward Lampert
[On not being interested in Enron even when it was soaring.] Complex financials don’t necessarily mean there is something wrong. But if you don’t have a clue, why invest?
Edward Lampert
I was inspired by Warren Buffet’s letters while still working on the Arbitrage desk at Goldman Sachs.
Edward Lampert
[In 2003 on ESL Investments] We consider ourselves ‘Aggressive Conservative’ investors.
Edward Lampert
In investing we seek to do a few things well, namely: 1) Understand the business 2) Understand the people running the business and 3) Get safety from the price we pay.
Edward Lampert
We focus on absolute returns in making investments.
Edward Lampert
[In 2003] We invested in Kmart. Kmart was one of the worst managed companies in its industry. It was clearly distressed. Marty [Whitman] is one of the more sophisticated distressed securities investors and he was buying.
Edward Lampert
[On retail and store closures] People wait until Christmas and see what happens and then closes the worst performing stores. Then the company hobbles along until the following Christmas and does the same thing again closing even more stores. It can be a slow process.
Edward Lampert
The ‘Experts’ said that Kmart would never emerge from bankruptcy.
Edward Lampert
I have learned that it often comes down to who makes the decisions and also where the benefits and consequences fall – who benefits if the decisions work and who pays the price if it does not work.
Edward Lampert
A lot of the successful companies in retail actual had owners [Owner operators].
Edward Lampert
A lot of Kmarts’s problems were self-imposed.
Edward Lampert
Expectations were so low that improvement was possible.
Edward Lampert
[In 2003] Investing in retail for ESL [Investments] has been an opportunistic thing and a relatively recent phenomenon. I would agree with you about the general characteristics of retail not being that attractive.
Edward Lampert
Retailers are too willing to chase unprofitable sales.
Edward Lampert
[On emulating Warren Buffett and getting into the thinking of why he made the purchases that he did] Putting myself in his shoes at that time, could I understand why he made the investments? That was part of my learning process.
Edward Lampert
In a control position, our ability to create value goes up exponentially.
Edward Lampert
[On how quiet and unlike a trading floor his office is.] It’s a more studious atmosphere.
Edward Lampert
[Looking up at the sky.] How am I doing, Dad?
Edward Lampert
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