Management Quotes

The limitations of space have long dictated the economics of exchange transactions…In the Network Economy, the limitations of space no longer apply…But a funny thing happened on the path to frictionless capitalism. The economics of distance died, but the economics of attention took its place…But in many markets, customers find themselves overwhelmed with vendors clamoring for their attention, and vendors find themselves in a desperate battle to acquire customers. Customers still need to search, evaluate, negotiate, and configure products on their own. What customers gained in reduced transportation costs, they seem to have lost in increased search costs. These search and evaluation costs continue to create significant friction in commerce.
— Mohanbir Sawhney

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Economics and IT / Internet / E-Business

It’s better to choose and to choose wrongly than not to choose at all. Fence-sitters of this world have the worst of every fate.
— Dr. Larry Allums, director of the Dallas Institute

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Decision

C. Northcote Parkinson, an oddball with an odd name, was a British novelist and historian whose output ranged from Napoleonic-era military fiction to a history of sea-borne trade. But his major claim to fame was Parkinson’s Law which began a delightful series of books about how organizations make decisions, particularly bad ones. Here are some of Parkinson’s best-known laws:
1. ‘Expenditure rises to meet income’…
2. ‘Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion’…
3. ‘The matters most debated in a deliberative body tend to be the minor ones where everybody understands the issues.’
— John Hood

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Organizational Behavior and Personality / Behavior

Corporations typically run on annual budget cycles, but new ventures can’t. They need money when they need money—typically, a commitment of funding should come every few months. Those commitments should come only after the venture has reached clearly defined milestones. Poker players will tell you that, in seven-card stud, most of the money is lost on the fourth and fifth cards, as players indulge the unreasonable hope that an uninspiring hand might turn into something good. The same is true of [new] ventures: Companies should place new bets on them only if, at each stage, they are able to show real prospects for success.
— Timothy J. Rohner

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Entrepreneurship and Finance

If you want to write good promotional material, remember this cute little phrase: features smell, benefits sell. It’s easy to turn a feature into a benefit. Just add a “so” at the end of the feature and fill in the blank.
— Suzan St Maur

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Advertising and Marketing

Goals are management issues. They deal with rational analysis, planning, measurement, and discipline. Visions are leadership issues. They deal with feelings, energy, ideas, and fantasy. These are not either/or choices — both are needed.
— Jim Clemmer

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Leadership and Vision

Managers must be aware of their strengths, limitations, motives, and values in order to make the appropriate trade-offs between fit and learning opportunity when selecting a position.
— Linda A. Hill

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Career and Personal Development

It’s important for the CEO to view the parts of the CIO’s organization devoted to providing infrastructure services (e.g., company networking, systems management) differently than other “business-facing” departments. The former are not strategic activities — frankly, they’re more akin to utilities than core businesses — and it’s unfair to judge them on the basis of return on investment. They’re requirements and costs of doing business. By failing to separate IT service from IT strategy — and comprehend that the CIO is ultimately responsible for both — CEOs often grow frustrated with their chief technologists, confused as to whether they should be asked to provide merely utility or something much more critical than that. The answer is, CIOs need to manage both, and for the relationship between CEOs and CIOs to work, that unique dynamic has to be understood.
— John O. Boochever, Thomas Park, and James C. Weinb

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / IT / Internet / E-Business and Management

There is a ready bounty of CEO material currently available, but there is an unholy alliance between risk-averse boards and executive recruiters promoting marquee candidates that gives the appearance of a shortage. That very small group can’t possibly perform at the messianic level expected of them, and the list gets shorter and shorter over time as the unrealistic expectations become apparent.
— Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, CEO of Chief Executive Leaders

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Corporate Governance and Miscellaneous

Classic entrepreneurs are likely to score high on achievement and autonomy but low on affiliation. They might rank somewhere in the middle on the need for power. Consequently, many entrepreneurs get bored and frustrated and often leave the confines of corporate life—or are moved aside—when their tiny ventures grow into big, bureaucratic businesses.
— Alastair G. Robertson and Cathy L. Walt

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Entrepreneurship and Personality / Behavior