LEADERSHIP
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they carry it out.
—Theodore Roosevelt
The real art of management is to attract, retain, and motivate individuals—recognizing their intrinsic differences and lifestyles—and to assist and make possible in every way the achievement of their personal objectives in the accomplishment of our corporate goals.
Management Dimensions, Inc. surveyed 241 business executives and asked what traits make workers succeed. Executives could select more than one trait. The most important trait was enthusiasm—80 percent of the executives listed it. Second was a can-do attitude, with 63 percent listing it.
—Bits & Pieces
Management is not being brilliant. Management is being conscientious. Beware the genius manager. Management is doing well a few simple things and doing them well.
—Peter Drucker
A leader has two important characteristics: first, he is going somewhere; second, he is able to persuade other people to go with him.
A good boss is a guy who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.
A good supervisor, someone once said, is a guy who can step on your toes without messing up your shine.
A company is known by the people it keeps.
The man who gets the most satisfactory results is not always the man with the most brilliant single mind, but rather the man who can best coordinate the brains and talents of his associates.
—W. Alton Jones
Good supervision is the art of getting average people to do superior work.
There is a very obvious dearth of people who seem to be able to supply convincing answers or even to point the direction toward solutions.
—Derek Bok
A man lays the foundation of true greatness when he becomes more concerned with building his character than with expanding his reputation.
He who would be great must be fervent in his prayers, fearless in his principles, firm in his purposes, and faithful in his promises.
—William Arthur Ward
A leader must see the vision, state the mission, and set the tone.
—David Rockefeller
Leadership appears to be the art of getting others to want to do something you are convinced should be done.
—Vance Packard
People cannot be managed. Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.
—H. Ross Perot
To manage is to lead, and to lead others requires that one enlist the emotions of others to share a vision of their own.
—Henry M. Boettinger
A leader is an individual who has an inspiring vision and can get others to buy into it.
—Laurence Smith
Hanging on a wall in former president George Bush’s office in the White House were the words: “Think big. Be frank. Fight hard for your position.”
Trust your subordinates. You can’t expect them to go all out for you if they think you don’t believe in them.
Develop a vision. People want to follow someone who knows where he or she is going.
Keep your cool. The best leaders show their mettle under fire.
Encourage risk. Nothing demoralizes the troops like knowing that the slightest failure could jeopardize their entire career.
Be an expert. From boardroom to mail room, everyone had better understand that you know what you’re talking about.
Invite dissent. Your people aren’t giving you their best if they are afraid to speak up.
Simplify. You need to see the big picture in order to set a course, communicate it, and maintain it.
—Kenneth Labich
One of the marks of true greatness is the ability to develop greatness in others.
—J. C. McCauley
Two qualities make the difference between leaders and men of average performance. They are curiosity and discontent. I have never known an outstanding man who lacked either. And I have never known a man of small achievement who had both.
—Charles H. Brower
The boss drives his men; the leader coaches them.
The boss depends on authority; the leader on goodwill.
The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm.
The boss says “I”; the leader, “we.”
The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown.
The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how.
The boss says “Go”; the leader says “Let’s go!”
—H. Gordon Selfridge
No one need aspire to leadership in the work of God who is not willing to pay a price greater than his contemporaries and colleagues are willing to pay. True leadership always exacts a heavy toll on the whole man, and the more effective the leadership is, the higher the price to be paid.
—J. Oswald Sanders
Studies of people in business and industry who have achieved success show that four factors are almost always present. They are:
1. The ability to think.
2. An inner drive and love of work.
3. The capacity to assume responsibility.
4. The ability to lead people.
—Bits & Pieces
A leader is a person who is going somewhere—but not going alone. He takes others with him. His ability in setting up situations in which others are willing to follow him and happy to work with him is a precious skill called leadership. This skill is made up of many qualities—thoughtfulness and consideration for others, enthusiasm, the ability to share responsibility with others, and a multitude of other traits. But fundamentally a leader is one who leads, one who has a plan, one who keeps headed toward a goal and a purpose. He has the enthusiasm to keep moving forward in such a way that others gladly go with him.
—Walter MacPeek
Reason and calm judgment are the qualities specially belonging to a leader.
—Tacitus
The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Anyone who influences others is a leader.
—Chuck Swindoll
A leader is an average, everyday person who is highly motivated.
—Theodore Roosevelt
One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you.
—Dennis A. Peer
Leaders need to cultivate two things: a righteous heart and a rhinoceros skin.
—Charles Swindoll
Leadership is calculated risk-taking.
—Ted Ward
The two great laws of life are growth and decay. When things stop growing, they begin to die. This is true of men, businesses, or nations.
—Charles Gow
Leadership consists of character and strategy. If you can’t have both, opt for character.
—General Norman Schwarzkopf
Henry Ford had a habit of going to the offices of other executives whenever a problem had to be discussed, rather than have them come to his own office. He did it to save time.
“I’ve found,” he said, “that I can leave the other fellow’s office a lot quicker than I can get him to leave mine.”
No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.
—Andrew Carnegie
The trouble with being a leader today is that you can’t be sure whether people are following you or chasing you.
Tom Peters, coauthor of In Search of Excellence and A Passion for Excellence, claims exceptional leaders have many traits in common. Prominent among them are:
1. They soak up information, often take notes obsessively, and realize they can learn from anyone, regardless of title or position.
2. They’re constantly looking for ways to make things better. They’re starving for thousands of tiny improvements. To them, no idea is too small.
3. They delight in the success of others. They never attempt to hog credit. They give credit where credit is due.
The higher you go the more dependent you become on others.
A leader is best when people barely know he exists.… When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, “We did this ourselves.”
—Lao-tzu
Frederick the Great sent a messenger to one of his generals: “I send you against the enemy with sixty thousand men.” When the troops were counted they numbered only fifty thousand. The general sent a letter of protest and complaint, insisting there must be a mistake. “No,” replied Frederick, “there is no mistake. I counted you for ten thousand men.”
—David A. MacLennon
Leadership is the discipline of deliberately exerting special influence within a group to move it toward goals of beneficial permanence that fulfill the group’s real needs.
—John Haggai
When in charge, ponder. When in trouble, delegate. When in doubt, mumble.
—Lawrence J. Peter
Anne O’Hare McCormick visited Hitler, Mussolini, and Roosevelt and asked all three, “How did you get where you are?”
Mussolini puffed out his chest, as he often did, and replied, “I came!” Hitler got a faraway look in his face and said, “I was sent.”
When she asked Roosevelt, he laughed and said, “Well, somebody had to do it!”
Leadership is the ability to inspire other people to work together as a team under your direction in order to attain a common objective.
—Harold Geneen
When Thomas Jefferson presented his credentials as U.S. Minister to France, the French premier remarked, “I see that you have come to replace Benjamin Franklin.” “I have come to succeed him,” corrected Jefferson. “No one can replace him.”
—Bits & Pieces
See everything; overlook a lot; deal with a little.
—Pope John XXIII
Common traits exhibited by successful leaders in almost every field are these:
They observe with application. They observe and absorb. They look at everything as though it’s the first and last time they’ll ever see it.
They know how to listen—really listen. Listening is wanting to hear.
They welcome ideas, urging others to bring their best thinking on a subject. They’re open, responsive, sensitive, aware, and encouraging.
They value time highly.
—Whitt N. Schultz
I use not only my own brains but also all I can borrow.
—Woodrow Wilson
When Benno Schmidt Jr. assumed the presidency of Yale University, he expressed some concern regarding the busyness of the job. “If I can’t put my feet on the desk and look out the window and think without an agenda, I may be managing Yale, but I won’t be leading it.”
A research organization polled five hundred executives, asking them what traits they thought were most important in dealing with others. From the information received, five basic “rules” were formulated. They are:
1. Always give your people the credit that is rightfully theirs. To do otherwise is both morally and ethically dishonest.
2. Be courteous. Have genuine consideration for other people’s feelings, wishes, and situations.
3. Never tamper with the truth. Never rationalize. What you might like to believe is not necessarily the truth.
4. Be concise in your writing and talking, especially when giving instructions to others.
5. Be generous. Remember that it is the productivity of others that makes possible your executive position.
—Bits & Pieces
Qualities essential to effective leadership are boldness, imagination, and strength of character.
—Gail Sheehy
Why are administrators like bananas? They are green when they are taken aboard, they get yellow half way across the gulf, and they get thrown overboard when they start to get soft.
A man applied for a job at a prison as a warden. “Can you handle this job? This is a tough bunch here.” He responded, “No problem. If they misbehave, out they go.”
It is hard to learn the mind of any mortal, or the heart till he be tried in chief authority. Power shows the man.
—Sophocles
Someone asked General Douglas McArthur, “What is the greatest quality of a leader?” He answered, “Selflessness.”
Murphy’s Law: If something can go wrong, it will.
Weiler’s Law: Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn’t have to do it himself.
Chisholm’s Law: Anytime things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.
Finangle’s Law: Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it makes it worse.
Crane’s Law: There is no such thing as a free lunch.
At the University of Santa Clara, California, a researcher conducted a study of fifteen hundred business managers to determine, among other things, what workers value most in a boss. The survey revealed that employees respect a leader who shows competence, has the ability to inspire workers, and is skillful in providing direction. But there was a fourth quality they admired even more—integrity. Above all else, workers wanted a manager whose word is good, a manager who is known for his honesty, a manager whom they could trust.
What kind of people don’t make good leaders? A study by a team of psychologists at the University of California found them to be:
Aggressive against people who do not agree with them, or who do not do as they want them to.
Apprehensive that others are scheming against them, or the firm.
Fatalistic in thinking that most workers aren’t to be trusted; intolerant of democratic leaders.
Inflexible, believing that there must be no deviation from the course they have set.
Impulsive, preferring action to thinking it over before acting.
Prejudiced against certain social groups, firms, religions, or nations.
—Bits & Pieces
LEARNING – EDUCATION
What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.
—Aristotle
Learning is a treasure that accompanies its owner everywhere.
—Chinese proverb
Some students drink at the fountain of truth, but others gargle over it. And still others drown in it.
Michelangelo, at ninety, having lost his eyesight, ran his hands over statues in St. Peter’s Cathedral and exclaimed, “I am still learning.”
Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like to be taught.
—Winston Churchill
To look at is one thing;
To see is another.
To understand is a third.
To learn from what you understand is still something else.
But to act on what you learn is what really matters.
Instruction is given the wise by reason; ordinary minds, by experience; the stupid, by necessity; and brutes, by instinct.
—Cicero
LEFT–HANDEDNESS
The members of the Lefthanders International want its members to be accorded the same respect as righthanders and are urging a written “Bill of Lefts” to outline their “rights.” They question—
Why do most country road signs read: “Keep Right?”
Why are most TV knobs on the right?
Why is the torch in Lady Liberty’s right hand?
Why is a “lefthanded compliment” considered a subtle insult?
Despite society’s seeming stereotype of the lefthanded, history has produced overachievers. Alexander the Great, Michelangelo, Queen Victoria, Thomas Edison, Picasso, Babe Ruth, including three recent U.S. presidents: George Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford.
In 1989, President Bush was awarded “Lefthander of the Year” by Lefthanders International. The organization hopes to prove that it is all right to be left and all wrong to be left out.
LIBERALITY
Many years ago two young men were working their way through Stanford University. At one point their money was almost gone, so they decided to engage the great pianist Paderewski for a concert and use the profits for board and tuition. Paderewski’s manager asked for a guarantee of two thousand dollars. The students worked hard to promote the concert, but they came up four hundred dollars short. After the performance, they went to the musician, gave him all the money they had raised, and promised to pay the four hundred dollars as soon as they could. It appeared that their college days were over. “No, boys, that won’t do,” said the pianist. “Take out of this sixteen hundred dollars all your expenses, and keep for each of you 10 percent of all the balance for your work. Let me have the rest.”
Years passed. Paderewski became premier of Poland following World War I. Thousands of his countrymen were starving. Only one man could help—the head of the U.S. Food and Relief Bureau. Paderewski’s appeal to him brought thousands of tons of food. Later he met the American statesman to thank him. “That’s all right,” replied Herbert Hoover. “Besides, you don’t remember, but you helped me once when I was a student in college.”
LIBERALS
Liberals are always for the inclusion of every possible point of view except those points of view that do not include every possible point of view.
—Stanley Hauerwas