The main challenge for information-age corporations is the re-training of manager, not the re-training of workers.
- John Naisbitt

Keep one eye fixed on the details; the other, on the horizon.

When you hire people who are smarter than you are,
you prove you are smarter than they are.

Don't send your turkeys to eagle school.

For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe.
- Larry Eisenberg

A good manager doesn't try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep if from wasting the energies of his people. If you're the boss and your people fight you openly when they think that you are wrong - that's healthy.
- Robert Townsend

Unfortunately, some companies worry more about broken machines than they do broken people.

Management's goal should be to do everything in their power to help others be as successful as possible. Management succeeds only when the rest of the organization succeeds.

We used to think that the manager's job was to know all the answers. But the new manager ought to know the questions, to be concerned about them and involve others in finding answers. Today's manager needs to be more of a facilitator - someone skilled in eliciting answers from others -sometimes from people who do not even know what they know.
- J. Naisbitt & P.Aburden

A magazine recently ran a "Dilbert Quotes" contest. They were looking for people to submit quotes from their real life Dilbert-type managers. Here are the top 12 finalists:
1. As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks. (This was the winning quote from Fred Dales at Microsoft Corp in Redmond, WA.)
2. What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter. (Lykes Lines Shipping)
3. E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business. (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)
4. This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it. Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)
5. Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule. No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them. (R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/3M Corp.)
6. My Boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit it. The disk I gave her was write-protected. (CIO of Dell Computers)
7. Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say." (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)
8. My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me." (Shipping executive, FTD Florists)
9. "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees." (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)
10. We recently received a memo from senior management saying: "This is to inform you that a memo will be issued today regarding the subject mentioned above." (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
11. One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!" (New business manager Hallmark Greeting Cards.)
12. As director of communications, I was asked to prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In the body of the memo in one of the sentences I mentioned the "pedagogical approach" used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the executive committee, I was called into the HR director's office, and told that the executive vice president wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for perverts (pedophilia?) working in her company. Finally, he showed me her copy of the memo, with her demand that I be fired - and the word "pedagogical" circled in red. The HR manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his dictionary and made a copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me not to worry. He would take care of it. Two days later, a memo to the entire staff came out directing us that no words which could not be found in the local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later, I resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo by pasting words together from the Sunday paper. (Taco Bell Corporation)

How to create a company that lets people survive in the often harried, sometimes heroic realm of work:
1. Never tolerate bullying behavior.
2. Don't just give people a chance to speak - let them know they are being heard.
3. Nix the "Don't bring me problems, bring me solutions" mentality. You may find that nobody wants to tell you the "bad news."
4. Hire people who are like your customers, rather than just like you.
5. Everyone speaks three languages - that of speech, that of silence, and that of the body.
6. Teach people about the business, so that they can fall in love with it.
- Robbie Stamp, CEO of the Digital Village

Instead of asking, What is the information that matters and how do we most efficiently manage it?, companies must start asking, What are the relationships that matter, and how can the technology most effectively support them?
- Michael Schrage, Wall Street Journal, March 1990

Amid a wash of paper, a small number of documents become the critical pivots around which every project's management revolves. These are the manager's chief personal tools.
- Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., The Mythical Man Month

How does a project get to be a year late? ... One day at a time.
- Frederick Brooks, Jr., The Mythical Man Month

Lead with your heart (leadership.)
Guide with your head (management.)
- Jim Cathcart

The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time. The last 10% of a project takes 90% of the time.

Noah, when he heard the weather forecast, said "Build an ark!" That's Leadership.
When he got on the ark, he said "Don't let the elephants see what the rabbits are doing!" That's Management!

Does it make sense?
The new empowered workplace environment encourages people to ask and answer the question, Does doing this make sense? Consider the seeing-eye dog. Trainers of seeing-eye dogs recognize there are three kinds of dogs. Two kinds are rejected for seeing-eye training:
- Those who are totally disobedient
- Those who are totally obedient
What kind makes the best seeing-eye dog?
Those who are obedient only if what they are told to do makes sense. Consider the situation of a dog, standing with his blind owner on a corner, who is given the command Forward, however, the dog sees a huge 18-wheeler coming. Does the dog say to itself bummer! and proceed to step off the curb? For the sake of itself and its owner, we hope not!!
What doesn't make sense in your work environment? What are you doing about it?

A manager is successful when s/he is no longer needed.

A river without banks is just a large puddle. Lesson: We need guidelines, principles and some structure to be most effective.

Management is like writing in the snow. You've got to keep repeating the message over and over.

Over the years, I've had many executives come to me and say with pride: "Boy, last year I worked so hard that I didn't take any vacation." It's actually nothing to be proud of. I always feel like responding, "You dummy. You mean to tell me that you can take responsibility of an $80 million project and you can't plan to weeks out of the year to go off with your family and have some fun?"
- Lee Iacocca

Senior managers try to be explicit about our vulnerability and failings. We talk to people about the bad decisions we've made. It demystifies senior management and removes the stigma traditionally associated with taking risks. We also talk about the limitations of our knowledge, mostly by inviting other people's perspectives.
- Robert D. Haas, CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.

The main challenge for information-age corporations is the retraining of manager, not the retraining of workers.
- John Naisbitt

Bicycle Management: Bend your back to those above you while you trample on those below.

Management's goal should be to do everything in their power to help others be as successful as possible. Management succeeds only when the rest of the organization succeeds.

Since managers are no longer the guardians of the knowledge base, we do not need the command-control type executive.
- Shoshana Zuboff

There's no reason that work has to be suffused with seriousness.... Professionalism can be worn lightly. Fun is a stimulant to people. They enjoy their work more and work more productively.
- Herb Kelleher, CEO, Southwest Airlines

The assets of most businesses walk out of the door at the end of each day.
The challenge to management is to create an environment which will motivate them to want to return the next day.
- Lynn Yates, modified by Grant Bright

Managers should ask themselves the question: "How many people do I report to?" If the answer is not equal to the total number of people in their department, they don't understand the new environment.

The term "span of control" no longer makes sense... What we're looking for is a span of support wherein managers understand that they are to help, coach and create learning, not to control.
- Ralph Stayer

The actions of a responsible executive are contagious.
- Joe D. Batton

When it comes to "Empowerment" you need to remember that once you teach a gorilla to dance you have to be ready to dance until the gorilla wants to stop.

People only respond negatively to controls when they are inappropriate for the situation.
- William Byham

Empowering means helping teams develop their skills and knowledge and supporting them to use their talents.
- Kenneth Blanchard

Empowerment is all about letting go so that others can get going.
- Kenneth Blanchard

Giving someone the freedom to take responsibility releases resources that would otherwise remain concealed.
- Jan Carlzon

We do not produce excellence when we feel uninvolved, insignificant, and threatened.
- Kouzes and Posner

When your OUTGO exceeds your INCOME then your UPKEEP will be your DOWNFALL.

To survive, men and business and corporations must serve.
- John H. Patterson

Managers are people who do things right; leaders are people who do the right thing.
- Warren Bennis

The old style manager puts the megaphone to his or her mouth, the new style manager puts the megaphone to his or her ear.

For a manager to be perceived as a positive manager, they need a four to one positive to negative contact ratio.
- Ken Blanchard

People perform better for managers who are not interested in production alone, but who express interest in their employee's welfare, keep in touch with them, and are approachable.

Maintain a positive attitude at work: Ask employees what they enjoy about their work. Too often, conversations center too much on mistakes and problems. When you ask. "What did you like about that last project?" you encourage employees to become conscious of how to get satisfaction from work. And they may think of ways to do their jobs better.

Re-engineering is in trouble. The revolution we have started has gone, at best, only halfway - you can't forget that you've got people there as well.
- James Champy, author of Reengineering the Corporation and Reengineering Management

Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important.
- T.S. Eliot

Think about the qualities of the best managers you ever worked for. You'll find that most of them:
- were approachable and easy to talk to
- rarely became overexcited or flew off the handle
- didn't let a few problems poison their whole outlook took a friendly, pleasant, positive approach
- showed consideration for the feelings of the people who worked for them

The structural characteristics of learning organizations are permeability, flexibility, and network intimacy.
- Nick McGill and John Slocum, Organizational Dynamics

Management's task is not to control or be a corporate cheerleader or crisis handler; it is to encourage experimentation, create a climate for open communication, promote constructive dialogue and give employees license to expose failures and promote dissent.
- Nick McGill and John Slocum, Organizational Dynamics

Strategy in a learning organization is predicated upon a recognition and acceptance that learning is the only source of competitive advantage.
- Nick McGill and John Slocum, Organizational Dynamics

A good manager doesn't try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of his people. If you're the boss and your people fight you openly when they think that you are wrong - that's healthy.
- Robert Townsend

If you want to manage somebody, manage yourself. Do that well and you'll be ready to stop managing. And start leading.

Every manager/leader should be a CEO: Chief Empowerment Officer.

You can't always wait for the guys at the top. Every manager at every level in the organization has an opportunity, big or small, to do something. Every manager's got some sphere of autonomy. Don't pass the buck up the line.
- Bob Anderson, GE's former CEO

If you don't know what to do with many of the papers piled on your desk, stick a dozen colleagues' initials on them and pass them along. When in doubt, route.
- Malcolm Forbes

Once an organization loses its spirit of pioneering and rests on its early work, its progress stops.
- Thomas J. Watson

Good Questions to ask prospective employees:
1. Tell me about the best manager you've worked for. Why was he or she a good manager? What would the ideal manager be like?
2. What was your least favorite manager like? How did you handle the things you didn't like about him?
3. Tell me about a disagreement you may have had with a previous manager. How did you resolve it?
4. If I was your manager, what would be the most important thing that I could do to support you?

The best executive is the one who has the sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Praise is one of the manager's most powerful tools. Here are two suggestions regarding praise:
- Don't hide you praise behind criticism
- Be specific

I learned that, before you reach an objective, you must be ready with a new one, and you must start to communicate it to the organization. But it is not the goal itself that is important.
- Jan Carlzon, CEO SAS

We found that the most exciting environments, that treated people very well, are also tough as nails. There is no bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo ... excellent companies provide two things simultaneously: tough environments and very supportive environments.
- Tom Peters

Three Levels of Organizational Vision:
1. The Do-able
2. The Conceivable
3. The Previously Unthinkable

Successful Project Management: PLAN, EXECUTE, EVALUATE Sounds simple, but most projects aren't well planned nor are they evaluated well. The tendency is to jump right into execution and as soon as execution is completed (which usually isn't "soon"), move on to the next project without evaluating what happen on the present project and what could have been improved. Successful project management requires more front and back end resources (and less middle) than are usually allocated.

Key points to remember when you delegate:
1. Stress results, not details
2. Don't be sucked in by giving solutions to employee's problems
3. Turn any questions around (ask employee what they think)
4. Establish measurable and concrete objectives
5. Develop a reporting/feedback system
6. Develop strict but reasonable schedules
7. Keep a delegation "log" (who/what/when)
8. Recognize the talents and personalities of each of your employees

The 8 "T"s of empowering or motivating others by Jim Cathcart
Ask yourself:
1. Target: Does s/he understand and accept the purpose or goal?
2. Tools: Does s/he have the tools or information needed to do the job?
3. Training: Has there been enough training in how to use the tools well?
4. Time: Have they had enough time for the training to take effect?
5. Truth: Does s/he know how all of this fits together?
6. Tracking: Am I providing the feedback needed for them to stay on track?
7. Touch: Is there enough support and encouragement? (the human touch)
8. Trust: Do I trust them appropriately for their skill and mastery level?

Douglas McGregor's list of the unique characteristics of an effective management team:
1. Understanding, mutual agreement, and identification with respect to the primary task
2. Open communications
3. Mutual trust
4. Mutual support
5. Management of human differences leading to group synergy
6. Selective use of the team
7. Appropriate member skills
8. Leadership: Managing and integrating the other 7 characteristics

Organizations that remain vital show their new employees that they are needed. At the same time, they never forget the value of their long-service employees. And they always give both a second chance.

A man at a pay booth in a restaurant was overheard by the restaurant manager making a call. "Hello, Mr. Smith?" he was heard to say. "I understand you have been looking for an assistant." He paused to listen to the response. "Oh, you hired one two months ago and are pleased with your choice? Well, thank you anyway. I hope you continue to be satisfied with your decision." When he hung up the phone, the restaurant manager commented, "I happened to overhear your conversation. I'm sorry you didn't get a shot at that job." "Oh, that's all right," the man replied, "That was my boss. I was hired as his assistant three months ago and I was just phoning to find out how I'm doing!" Employees like to know how they are doing. When was the last time that you as a manager gave them some positive feedback? Or do you wait until they ask or call you?

Some managers approach employee dissatisfaction with the attitude: "Firings will continue until morale improves."

THE TWELVE KEYS TO AN EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION (William P. Densmore):
1. Integrated Strategic Management
2. Focus on Results
3. Shared Aims, Values and Beliefs
4. Short-Term/Long-Term Balance
5. Superior Customer Satisfaction
6. Focus on Profits
7. Human Resource Practices
8. Freedom Within Bounds
9. High Expectations - Focus on Competence
10. Business Teams and Teamwork
11. Informal Networks and Relationships
12. Climate for Change
- see "Breaking Through" by Don Osgood for more information

"Blind" or "Old Time" Leadership is like the old "galley" ships. 100s are rowing, but only one (the captain) knows where they are going.

Leadership has to do with direction. Management has to do with the speed, coordination and logistics in going in that direction.
The WORKERS are chopping their way through the jungle.
The MANAGERS are coordinating, making sure the tools are sharp, etc.
The LEADERS climb a tree and shout "Wrong jungle!!"
The MANAGERS shout back "Be quiet! We're making great progress!"
- Grant Bright

Efficiency tends to deal with "Things". Effectiveness tends to deal with "People". We manage "Things" we lead "People".

It's easier to change PEOPLE than to CHANGE people.