Harold Geneen Quotes

I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them. My philosophy is to stay as close as possible to what's happening. If I can't solve something, how the hell can I expect my managers to.

Management must manage!

Business is many things, the least of which is the balance sheet. It is a fluid, ever changing, living thing, sometimes building to great peaks, sometimes falling to crumbled lumps.

It's better to take over and build upon an existing business than to start a new one.

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.

In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.

Every company has two organizational structures: The formal one is written on the charts; the other is the everyday relationship of the men and women in the organization.

The best way to sell yourself to others is first to sell the others to yourself. Check yourself against this list of obstacles to a pleasing personality: interrupting others; sarcasm; vanity; being a poor listener; insincere flattery; finding fault; challenging others without good cause; giving unsolicited advice; complaining; attitude of superiority; envy of others' success; poor posture and dress.

The highest art of professional management requires the literal ability to 'smell' a 'real fact' from all others.

Do you want my one-word secret of happiness? It's growth - - mental, financial you name it.

The professional's grasp of the numbers is a measure of the control he has over the events that the figures represent.

The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication.

Management manages by making decisions and by seeing that those decisions are implemented.

You can't run a business or anything else on a theory.

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.

Performance stands out like a ton of diamonds. Nonperformance can always be explained away.

It is much more difficult to measure nonperformance than performance.

Managers in all too many American companies do not achieve the desired results because nobody makes them do it.

A true leader has to have a genuine open-door policy so that his people are not afraid to approach him for any reason.

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.

You read a book from beginning to end. You run a business the opposite way. You start with the end, and then you do everything you must to reach it.

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.

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.

I think it is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises, but only performance is reality

We must not be hampered by yesterday's myths in concentrating on today's needs.

What you manage in business is people

In the business world, everyone is always working at legitimate cross purposes, governed by self interest.

If your desk isn't cluttered, you probably aren't doing your job.

Ninety-nine percent of all surprises in business are negative.

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.

Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.

Uncertainty will always be part of the taking charge process.

Better a good decision quickly than the best decision too late.