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

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.

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

INCENTIVE COMPENSATION AND PROFIT SHARING

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.

I learned that I needed to subordinate myself to those I led.Your job as leader is get to the lowest level and find out the tools your people need—whether it’s a shovel or a computer—to get the job done. When we were starting

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

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

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

The most important currency of leadership is time. If you commit your time to your people and create an atmosphere and a perception of fairness, you will earn their respect, and your organization will achieve results far beyond anyone’s expectations.

Things get done in our society because of a man or a woman with conviction.