GE CEO Jeff Immelt, talking with Henry Blodget:

There's a lot of people who have gotten fired thinking they're Jeff Bezos. So I don't want to be Amazon. I want to be GE.

This is right after Immelt refers to Bezos as someone he admires.

I've thought and written about corporate self awareness before (in particular with respect to Amazon and McMaster-Carr; see also the last paragraph or two of this old post about Pixar), but it's been increasingly on my mind recently.

Knowing who you are - and having the fortitude to act accordingly - is key.