Management Quotes

I think the idea is that one has, among other responsibilities, the responsibility to try to increase shareholder value. But when you say “maximize,” you’re now saying it’s my priority at the cost of all others. And that’s what I will not acknowledge — any more than I would go the other way and say my purpose is to maximize the happiness of my employees. I don’t think that’s fair either. There are shareholders and stakeholders beyond employees.

I think that what is critical to me is that they be balanced. Whenever any single stakeholder says “All I care about is what’s in it for me,” it is essentially destructive of the spirit, and ultimately I think it is probably self-destructive in terms of not being the kind of thing that generates trust and sustainability.
— Michael Josephson

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Business Rules and Miscellaneous

We haven’t done a good job of teaching critical thinking and creative problem-solving. People find critical thinking difficult because it’s a radical switch from their 20 years of education in solving well-structured problems. We’ve produced a nation of certainty junkies, where if you can’t define a problem with precision and certainty, people go crazy. Well, welcome to the real world. The game has changed. Problems change as fast as you’re working on them. Indeed, they change because you’re working on them—or not working on them.
— Ian Mitroff

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Decision and Thought

History shows that CEOs who dither over tough decisions cause companies to get stuck in adversity and, ultimately, to drift into crisis…The secret appears to be to “get on with it”: The game is won in the long term based on successful execution of a strategy, even a flawed one.
— Bruce A. Pasternack and James O’Toole

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Decision and Leadership

Being able to tell what time it is (that is, knowing the difference between merely difficult times and true times of crisis) is one of the most important analytical skills a leader can have, especially with respect to formulating or reassessing strategy.
— Bruce A. Pasternack and James O’Toole

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Leadership and Perception

When the yellow light is flashing, leaders tell us they face the widest range of strategic alternatives and have the most true decision-making power. (It may appear that leaders have more options when the light is green, but try making that argument to anyone who has attempted to make a fundamental change when the going is good.) And, although followers are more open to change when their backs are against the wall, leaders typically have few viable alternatives open to them during a crisis. In short, when the yellow light is flashing, leaders have as blank a strategic slate as they ever face, and the scope of their decision-making authority is as broad as it ever is. Times of uncertainty may be a harder test for a leader, but they are also a tremendous opportunity for those who make the right choices.
— Bruce A. Pasternack and James O’Toole

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Leadership and Management

Peter Drucker admonishes us to “Focus, focus, focus” (he never says it once). “Focus, focus, focus” drives us to pay attention to those few things, those critical initiatives, that determine relevance, viability, and success in the future–and this reverberating phrase walks around with many of us. Yet it does not negate the imperative of seeing the organization whole. Indeed, we can see the significant priorities clearly only when we see the organization complete and intact, embedded in the world at large. Only by seeing things whole can we understand and articulate to others why we focus on our few significant priorities. And only by seeing things in their entirety can we recognize when continued relevance and viability demand that we change our priorities.

When we see the organization whole and when our goals, objectives, and actions describe in a powerfully inclusive, embracing way the future we will bring alive, then all within the walls as well as those we serve beyond the walls and those future customers we will find, listen to, and serve will partner with us in our journey. All of this integrated wholeness–everything building upon everything else, flowing to and from in a circular movement–becomes a remarkable strategy for ensuring organizational relevance far into the future.
— Frances Hesselbein

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Management

There are times when the need for economic and political understanding requires direct, openly adverse comment: Reference to corporate management compensation as something set by stockholders or their directors is a bogus article of faith. To affirm this fiction, stockholders are invited each year to the annual meeting, which, indeed, resembles a religious rite. There is ceremonial expression and, with rare exception, no negative response. Infidels who urge action are set aside; the management position is routinely approved. The shareholders who previously suggested some social policy or environmental concern have their proposals printed with supporting argument. These are uniformly rejected by management. The only significant recent exception has been at the meetings of the highly intelligent, socially eccentric and financially successful Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. of Omaha, Nebraska. Proposals by its stockholders are frequently accepted; some have thought this by prearrangement with management. In any case, it represents a highly exceptional tolerance on the part of the corporation. No one should be in doubt: Shareholders - owners - and their alleged directors in any sizable enterprise are fully subordinate to the management. Though the impression of owner authority is offered, it does not, in fact, exist. An accepted fraud.
— John Kenneth Galbraith

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Corporate Governance

It is useful, but not yet common in our literature and discussion of business, to distinguish among leadership, management, and administration. They are in fact very different; each is valuable and has its place. Briefly, leadership is about a vision of the future and the ability to energize others to pursue it. Management is about getting results and doing so efficiently so that a financial profit or surplus is created. Administration is about rules and procedures and whether or not they are being followed. These distinctions are very important to clear communications among us about how organizations are run—when they are not made, we become very confused, as is much of the discussion around our topic.
— D. Quinn Mills

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Leadership and Management

In any great organisation it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.
— John Kenneth Galbraith

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Courage

Stories are about meaning; they help explain why things could happen in a certain way. They give order and meaning to events – a crucial aspect of understanding future possibilities. Stories have many advantages. They open people up to multiple perspectives…stories help people cope with complexity.
— Peter Schwartz

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Communication