When I come upon a man who has a gleaming, empty, clear desktop, I am dealing with a fellow who is so far removed from the realities of his business that someone else is running it for him.
You can’t run a business or anything else on a theory.
We must not be hampered by yesterday’s myths in concentrating on today’s needs.
Managers in all too many American companies do not achieve the desired results because nobody makes them do it.
You can know a person by the kind of desk he keeps. If the president of a company has a clean desk then it must be the executive vice president who is doing all the work.
Management must manage!
Management manages by making decisions and by seeing that those decisions are implemented.
If your desk isn’t cluttered, you probably aren’t doing your job.
What you manage in business is people.
It is much more difficult to measure non-performance than performance. Performance stands out like a ton of diamonds. Non-performance can almost always be explained away.
Facts from paper are not the same as facts from people. The reliability of the people giving you the facts is as important as the facts themselves.
Better a good decision quickly than the best decision too late.
The best way to inspire people to superior performance is to convince them by everything you do and by your everyday attitude that you are wholeheartedly supporting them.
Do you want my one-word secret of happiness? It’s growth – – mental, financial you name it.
Management must have a purpose, a dedication and that dedication must have an emotional commitment. It must be built in as a vital part of the personality of anyone who truly is a manager.
In the business world, everyone is always working at legitimate cross purposes, governed by self interest.
In a good meeting there is a momentum that comes from the spontaneous exchange of fresh ideas and produces extraordinary results. That momentum depends on the freedom permitted the participants.
The professional’s grasp of the numbers is a measure of the control he has over the events that the figures represent.
The highest art of professional management requires the literal ability to ‘smell’ a ‘real fact’ from all others.
If you keep working you’ll last longer. I’d hate to spend the rest of my life trying to outwit an 18-inch fish.