Richard Pratt Quotes

100 Richard Pratt Quotes

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Somewhere is the world there is a business doing better than ours. We need to know why.
Richard Pratt

You don’t know what you don’t know until you know it.
Richard Pratt

We must lower our costs 2 per cent every year to combat the onslaught of replacement products. Cotton has done that for 200 years – that’s why it’s still around.
Richard Pratt

When you walk through a factory, three out of every five finishing machines should be running; the other two should be setting up.
Richard Pratt

Work from 5 to 9, not 9 to 5.
Richard Pratt

My mother was the businessman in our family.
Richard Pratt

I work at my business 24 hours a day, often at the expense of my family and at the expense of things other people, quite rightly, place before work in importance. People ask me how I feel about my business, and I can honestly tell them it’s the most important thing in my life.
Richard Pratt

Day in, day out my father and my uncle Max sat across a table relentlessly asking each other if this and that had been done. Every stinky detail was gone through a dozen times. That’s why they stayed in business.
Richard Pratt

Never forget to have some fun. Always celebrate success.
Richard Pratt

Intelligence, gossip and technology win wars.
Richard Pratt



If you’ve just escaped the lion’s den, don’t go back for your hat.
Richard Pratt

You don’t compete with the economy, you compete with yourself. The economy is an excuse people use for underperformance.
Richard Pratt

Your future lies in finding ways to make your customers more profitable.
Richard Pratt

Focus on what you want to achieve, not on what you want to avoid.
Richard Pratt

Don’t complain, Don’t explain, Don’t resign.
Richard Pratt

Don’t be so concerned about not rocking the boat that you sink the ship.
Richard Pratt

Always bet against yourself.
Richard Pratt

There’s no such thing as a fully mature market. There’s always room to grow and expand.
Richard Pratt

Have you ever picked peas or dug out a drainage ditch? Now that’s hard work!
Richard Pratt

It’s amazing, the more money we give away, the more the company makes. Generosity works.
Richard Pratt



Whoever writes the contract has the advantage. Don’t save on legal costs.
Richard Pratt

If people are not told exactly what is expected of them they will copy the boss.
Richard Pratt

Perfection is often not commercial.
Richard Pratt

Private companies love their customers and hate their competitors. Public companies love their competitors and hate their competitors.
Richard Pratt

Congratulate your employees publicly, but criticise them privately.
Richard Pratt

Do one more thing every day and at the end of the year you’ll have done 365 things.
Richard Pratt

I want all my people to be fired with enthusiasm. Otherwise they’ll be fired with enthusiasm.
Richard Pratt

There is more profit in getting good prices than keeping costs low. But you must achieve both.
Richard Pratt

Don’t explain, just fix it.
Richard Pratt

Success comes from hiring people who are smarter than you are.
Richard Pratt



Over-analysis leads to paralysis.
Richard Pratt

It’s better to make the wrong decision than no decision at all.
Richard Pratt

Always judge yourself by the best in the world. Not just the best in your industry.
Richard Pratt

Always hire the best person for the job, not the best available. If they’re available they’re not the best.
Richard Pratt

Make sure you hire some mavericks. You always need to have a couple of mavericks in any successful business.
Richard Pratt

[On succession] They name their successor and they ensure that their successor is well trained. They install their successor and hand over power to them while they are still alive. They appoint the best person for the job, not the best family person for the job.
Richard Pratt

If my mother were buying a house she’d argue that it wasn’t close enough to the school, the church or the shops, it was a bit dark, and the garden was smaller than she’d hoped. If she was selling the same house she’d argue that it was nice and close to the school, the church and the shops, it had a big garden and plenty of natural light.
Richard Pratt

If you’re selling something, spend most of your time with customers who are bigger than you are and work to get their respect.
Richard Pratt

My wife Jeanne has stood beside me for 45 years and has always played a pivotal role in the growth of our company and in our community support activities, including particularly The Production Company. She will continue to do so for many years to come.
Richard Pratt

We owe Australia something special for its freedom, its tolerance and its welcoming haven, so we have to be generous in giving back.
Richard Pratt



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