Harold Geneen famous quotes

Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.
-- Harold Geneen

#Leadership #Taught

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

#Leadership #Business #Thinking

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

#Business #Two #Coins

Uncertainty will always be part of the taking charge process.
-- Harold Geneen

#Business #Process #Taking Charge

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

#Yesterday #Needs #Today

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

#Business

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

#Leadership #Doors #People

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

#Running #Inspiration #Theory

I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.
-- Harold Geneen

#Believe #People #Oar

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#Hate #Work #Trying

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
-- Harold Geneen

#Business #Management #Economics

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

#Self #Purpose #World

Management must have a purpose, a dedication and that dedication must have an emotional commitment. It must be built in as a vital part of the personality of anyone who truly is a manager.
-- Harold Geneen

#Commitment #Emotional #Dedication

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#Attitude #People #Inspire

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

#Jobs #Office #Desks

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

#Happiness #Names #Secret

What you manage in business is people
-- Harold Geneen

#Business #People #Management

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#People #Giving #Important

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#Running #Reality #Men

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

#Standing Out #Diamond #Performances

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

#Negative #Nine #Surprise

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#Business #Fall #Balance

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#President #Vices #Cleaning

It is much more difficult to measure nonperformance than performance.
-- Harold Geneen

#Wisdom #Difficult #Performances

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#Business #Men #Organization

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

#Work #Achieve #Results

Management must manage!
-- Harold Geneen

#Work #Management #Manage

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#Philosophy #Believe #People

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#Attitude #Sarcasm #Vanity

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.
-- Harold Geneen

#Running #Book #Opposites

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

#Decision #Management #Making Decisions