By Wayne Gretzky
Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.
— Wayne Gretzky
As the story goes, this was advice given to a young Wayne by his father Walter Gretzky.
This is possibly the most popular quote from sport to be widly adoped by business people.
Maybe only Mike Tyson’s quote about getting “punched in the face” gets close.
It has been referenced by business royalty, including Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett.
Ironically, in 2014, RIM had Gretzky himself repeating the quote on stage at the launch of their “Passport” phone, despite the fact that they were then already 7 years after the launch of the iPhone and still very focussed on where the puck was previously rather than where it had already gone to.