Harold Geneen quotes

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

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

Harold Geneen

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

Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.

Harold Geneen

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

Harold Geneen

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

Harold Geneen

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

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

Harold Geneen

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

Harold Geneen

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

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

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

Management must manage!

Harold Geneen

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

Harold Geneen

He suffered from paralysis by analysis.

Harold Geneen

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

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

Harold Geneen

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

It is much more difficult to measure nonperformance than performance.

Harold Geneen

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

Harold Geneen

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)

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

Harold Geneen

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.

Harold Geneen

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

I'd hate to spend the rest of my life trying to outwit an eighteen-inch fish.

Harold Geneen

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Harold Geneen

Occupation: British Businessman
Born: January 22, 1910
Died: November 21, 1997
Quotes count: 31

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