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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

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Harold Geneen
Age: 87 †
Born: 1910
Born: January 22
Died: 1997
Died: November 21
Businessman
Entrepreneur
Harold Sydney Geneen
Hal Geneen
Promise
Immutable
Leadership
Explanations
Law
Promises
Words
Explanation
Business
Performance
Reality
Economics
Think
Performances
Thinking
Management

More quotes by Harold Geneen

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Managers in all too many American companies do not achieve the desired results because nobody makes them do it.
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In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first the cash will come later.
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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.
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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.
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Uncertainty will always be part of the taking charge process.
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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.
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In the business world, everyone is always working at legitimate cross purposes, governed by self interest.
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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.
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If your desk isn't cluttered, you probably aren't doing your job.
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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
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The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication.
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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
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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
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Management manages by making decisions and by seeing that those decisions are implemented.
Harold Geneen
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What you manage in business is people
Harold Geneen
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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
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Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.
Harold Geneen
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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
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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
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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