Quotes About Management

Even if the chef has a good business head, his focus should be behind kitchen doors. A business partner should take care of everything in front of the kitchen doors.

The use we make of our fortune determines its sufficiency. A little is enough if used wisely, and too much if expended foolishly.

Technology innovation is not going to slow down. The work to manage it needs to speed up

I see companies these days where thoughts of "exits" are foremost in the minds of top management and board, and it is so clear that this value will infect the decision making down to the smallest choice by the most junior employee. Do we create something that is good, or just that seems good and might get us acquired or funded?

Bezos is like a chess master playing countless games simultaneously, with the boards organized in such a way that he can efficiently tend to each match.

Andy Grove, the longtime CEO of Intel, was known to be so harsh and intimidating that a subordinate once fainted during a performance review.

Jeff always said that when you focus on the business inputs, then the outputs such as revenue and income will take care of themselves.

IBM veteran and computer science professor Frederick Brooks argued that adding manpower to complex software projects actually delayed progress.

Bill Miller, the chief investment officer at Legg Mason Capital Management and a major Amazon shareholder, asked Bezos at the time about the profitability prospects for AWS. Bezos predicted they would be good over the long term but said that he didn't want to repeat "Steve Jobs's mistake" of pricing the iPhone in a way that was so fantastically profitable that the smartphone market became a magnet for competition.

For example, he suggested that every leader should be required to take a course called "As Life Happens," to learn how to sensitively manage an employee whose personal life might be interfering with their work obligations. Niekerk recalled that colleagues who read his paper said that it was among the best analyses they had seen of the cultural challenges that were so obviously plaguing the company at its twentieth anniversary.

In the seminal high-tech book The Mythical Man-Month, IBM veteran and computer science professor Frederick Brooks argued that adding manpower to complex software projects actually delayed progress. One reason was that the time and money spent on communication increased in proportion to the number of people on a project.

Bezos and other startup founders were reacting to lessons from previous technology giants. Microsoft took a top-down management approach with layers of middle managers, a system that ended up slowing decisions and stifling innovation. Looking at the muffled and unhappy hierarchy of the software giant across Lake Washington, Amazon executives saw a neon sign warning them exactly what to avoid.

Autonomous working units are good. Things to manage working units are bad.

While he was charming and capable of great humor in public, in private, Bezos could bite an employee's head right off.

Most importantly, Bezos didn't penalize Ian Freed and other Fire Phone managers, sending a strong message inside Amazon that taking risks was rewarded—especially if the entire debacle was primarily his own fault.

Alexa execs, like leaders elsewhere in Amazon, became frequent recipients of the CEO's escalation emails, in which he forwarded a customer complaint accompanied by a single question mark and then expected a response within twenty-four hours.

Burton and Crimstein had a total caste system with one ruling entity. There were senior partners, sure, but Hester Crimstein would not allow any of them to add their name to the masthead. Tia

When you identify a toxic subordinate leader, remove them. If you cannot remove them, reassign them to a role where their toxicity can be minimized.

A leader is paid to do three things: Get the job done and get it done well. Plan ahead—be proactive, not reactive. Exercise good, sound judgment in doing all of the above.

The best leaders in any enterprise see problems coming and stack the deck to prevent negative "what ifs" from happening. They also have contingency plans to take advantage of positive openings which occur in fleeting windows of time.

When in charge, take charge, but treat your subordinates with respect, dignity, and common courtesy.

He must have smart, well-trained people to run day-to-day activities. He must check up on them and make sure the job is getting done while he stacks the deck for future success.

An outfit does well the things the boss checks up on.

When taking over an organization," Moore said, "you've got to stand out in front of your people, and state clearly what your goals are; what you expect from them; and what they can expect from you. Then shut up and let everybody go to work.