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

What generally happens in those strong staff organizations is that you get very mediocre performance from otherwise able people down the line.

A lesson very few have learned: If you want to approach the head of XYZ Corporation, call him cold. Tell him who you are and why you want to talk to him. A direct and uncomplicated relationship will follow. The common mistake is to

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

“Don’t answer this now. Come in tomorrow with the answer in pencil on a piece of paper, so the secretaries don’t start a panic”: If you had to eliminate some activities under your control (not just cut them back), in which order would you eliminate them? I want a ten per cent reduction in expenses from everybody. No hanky-panky. Don’t eliminate an

Compromise is usually bad. It should be a last resort. If two departments or divisions have a problem they can’t solve and it comes up to you, listen to both sides and then, unlike Solomon, pick one or the other. This places solid accountability on the winner to make it work.

I suppose the best way to tell a leader is, if you find a place where people are coming to work enthusiastically and they are excited to come to work and would rather work there than anywhere else, you can bet you have got a leader. Well, there’s

Synergism, a business fad like hula hoops, holds that two and two makes five. Horseshit.Two and two usually makes three, and you know it. Because divisions forced to deal with one another learn to hate with a passion—and find ways to take it out on one another.

leaders can’t motivate anyone—they can only create the environment where individuals motivate themselves.

commitment to product (service) quality, true delegation, encouragement of healthy dissent, and, above all, the virtue of putting customers first.You

INCENTIVE COMPENSATION AND PROFIT SHARING