Up the Organization: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits (J-B Warren Bennis Series)

Business fads may come and go, but there will always be a need for such pure voices in the wilderness.

“Is what I’m doing or about to do getting us closer to our objective?”That

INCENTIVE COMPENSATION AND PROFIT SHARING

Probably whenever Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and the other chiefs powwowed, the first topic of conversation was the shortage of Indians. Certainly today, no meeting of the high and the mighty is complete until someone polishes the conventional wisdom: “Our big trouble today is getting enough good people.” This is crystal-clear nonsense.Your people are

The main point: to get you and the people you work with fired-up to achieve whatever goals you select. And always remember: getting there

POLAROID POWER. If you’re responsible for a group of hamburger stands, service stations, banks, nursing homes or supermarkets, where appearance is critical, take a Polaroid camera along on your trips. If you see an obsolete sign, a dirty counter or a slovenly employee, take a picture. Show it to the manager.Tell him it will

THE SURE-FIRE TOWNSEND INNOVATION TEST. If you come up with a new idea for your department or division, you can get an almost infallible early reading on it. 1. If everybody gives it something between active indifference and hot opposition, the idea is valid.

Some meetings should be long and leisurely. Some should be mercifully brief. A good way to handle the latter is to hold the meeting with everybody standing up.The meetees won’t believe you at first.Then

Many give lip service, but few delegate authority in important matters. And that means all they delegate is dog-work. A real leader does as much dog-work for his people as he can: he can do it, or see a way to do without it, ten times as fast. And he delegates as many important matters as he can because that creates a climate in which people grow.

Charisma is not generally associated with a true leader, in my opinion. It is more associated with the opposite: the corporate politician, who is what is the matter with our country. There are too many of this type in our corner offices.