Tom Gores Quotes
101 Tom Gores Quotes (Platinum Equity Quotes, Detroit Pistons)
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A lot of people try to find growth before they have fundamentally fixed underlying problems. That’s a big mistake. You have to solve the basic problems first in order to set up the business to survive in the end.
Tom Gores
Sometimes not doing a deal is harder than doing one.
Tom Gores
The day I think I’m a better businessman than a father is the day I don’t respect myself.
Tom Gores
It’s one thing to have the talent. It’s another to have the hard work ethic.
Tom Gores
We can’t afford to be afraid of mistakes.
Tom Gores
You can’t control the market. You can control your company.
Tom Gores
I was fortunate to start working when I was about ten years old, and I learned a lot of lessons working at such a young age.
Tom Gores
We’ve made a lot of great returns by not predicting.
Tom Gores
The biggest thing is that we didn’t panic.
Tom Gores
When you understand a company’s operations on a deep level, you can almost always talk to the customers to figure out a way to survive together.
Tom Gores
We’re not that pompous to think we can solve an industry…
Tom Gores
Sometimes the grand vision and strategy can be overrated if it distracts you from focusing on the fundamentals.
Tom Gores
Vision usually comes naturally after you’ve fixed the problems and established a direction.
Tom Gores
We always plan for the worst case.
Tom Gores
Our base case is most people’s worst case.
Tom Gores
I want to be able to measure my bet.
Tom Gores
It’s dangerous to try to price a company on hypotheticals.
Tom Gores
When you get too comfortable, that’s when you stop listening to the people on the ground.
Tom Gores
You can’t base your decisions on the wrong kind of pressure.
Tom Gores
Somebody told me ‘We can’t afford to make mistakes.’ We’re going go make mistakes. We can’t afford to be afraid of mistakes.
It’s the owner’s job to say, ‘Let’s make some mistakes, but let’s make some good ones.
Tom Gores
It’s always been important to me, to not get caught up in the hoopla.
Tom Gores
Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.
Tom Gores
We would not do any vanity play.
Tom Gores
We work hand in hand to make good companies great.
Tom Gores
The ability to concurrently move on multiple fronts is one of the single biggest factors to our success.
Tom Gores
While I have a great deal of respect for others’ perspectives, my extended family’s political views as reported are their own, not mine.
Tom Gores
I was four years old when my family moved to America from Israel… Since I immigrated, I have considered myself an American, as do Alec and all my siblings. Like so many Americans, my family came here in search of a better life, and I am truly grateful for all the opportunity this country has afforded me.
Tom Gores
My mother is of Lebanese descent, and my father was of Greek descent.
Tom Gores
My brother Alec and I sometimes compete for business deals and take a great deal of pride in that fact, but we do not consider ourselves rivals.
Tom Gores
My brother Alec and I sometimes compete for business deals and take a great deal of pride in that fact, but we do not consider ourselves rivals. In conversation we have sometimes likened ourselves to athletes on the playing field — we battle hard during the game but always shake hands afterward. Above all, we both feel very fortunate to have had business success in our lives. Alec and I are very close personal friends.
Tom Gores
Many people have influenced my life… but it’s important to note that my father was my mentor.
Tom Gores
[Strategy is to understand the inner workings of a given segment and] Then figure out how to fix an individual company.
Tom Gores
[In April 2010] I think a lot of people couldn’t get their arms around where the bottom was last year. I’m not 100% confident today that the economy is truly back, but our operating team gives us the comfort that if the market continues to slip, we can adjust. It’s basically our insurance policy.
Tom Gores
As long as we’re acquiring sound businesses with flexible capital structures, we don’t feel like we have to try to time the market.
Tom Gores
Culturally, as a firm, we have to be able to move concurrently, so when problems arise in our portfolio, we can still pursue new investments.
Tom Gores
[In April 2010] Platinum [Equity] started 15 years ago, we have 12 partners now and the average tenure is 12 years.
Tom Gores
We didn’t experience any kind of culture shock when the economy started going sideways. Our M&A teams were able to focus on new opportunities because they were confident in the work that our operations team was doing behind the scenes.
Tom Gores
I think in most cases panic creates paralysis, were you don’t do anything because you’re waiting for the market to return.
Tom Gores
At Platinum [Equity] we’ve learned to move hard and move fast.
Tom Gores
We’re not that pompous to think we can solve an industry, but we’re willing to peel the onion back to try to understand how an industry works and then figure out how to fix an individual company. We’ll never pretend to know when an industry is going to move in and out of a cycle.
Tom Gores
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