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Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn't go to hell if you take a day off.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

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Jeffrey Pfeffer
Age: 78
Born: 1946
Born: July 23
Academic
Business Administration Scholar
Economist
Professor
University Teacher
St. Louis
Missouri
Important
Hell
Think
Teach
Boss
Thinking
Asks
Task
World
Business
Management
People
Inspirational
Tasks
Doesn
Questions
Take
Leadership
Right
Leader

More quotes by Jeffrey Pfeffer

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Leaders are not modest, and more importantly, the extensive social science research on narcissism, self-promotion, and similar constructs shows that these qualities and behaviors are useful for getting hired, achieving promotions, keeping one's job, and obtaining a higher salary.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Lying is common in social life, often done for benign purposes, seldom draws severe sanctions, and many of the most notable leaders, including the late Steve Jobs, were consummate prevaricators. Told with enough persistence and conviction, what was once untrue can become true, in a self-fulfilling prophecy sort of way.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Successful organizations understand the importance of implementation, not just strategy, and, moreover, recognize the crucial role of their people in this process.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Lyndon Johnson (with Abraham Lincoln close behind). Johnson was able to get things done, to read other people, and to adjust his own approach accordingly. One of the reasons he has so fascinated biographer Robert Caro over the years is Johnson's consummate skill in acquiring and using influence.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Trust is about keeping commitments, but in many instances, circumstances change and organizations therefore shed commitments, things such as retiree medical benefits, pension obligations, and even employees without much remorse or maybe even hesitation.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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To become memorable do things that are somewhat unexpected. Dress, or talk, in ways that draw attention. And mostly, don't follow all the rule for behavior so closely.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Great strategy, not executed, can't possibly have any effect on performance because it doesn't actually affect anything. It's like planning for a successful surgery to remove a tumor. If no one picks up the knife and actually operates effectively, the diseases will persist.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Almost no one as I think most leadership books are a joke. They are, as I note in Leadership BS, frequently based on wishes and hopes rather than reality, on inspiring stories rather than systematic social science, and on oughts rather than is.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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I do not think anyone who ever saw Lyndon Johnson give a speech would call him charismatic, even though he was one of the most effective presidents in U.S. history. Same with Lincoln. Charisma is only one source of power, and probably not a very important one, at that.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Being memorable equals getting picked.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Career success depends on people's educational credentials, their length of service (job tenure), unfortunately it is still the case on their race, gender, and similarity to those in power, and of course, on their political skills. Job performance matters, but less than most people think.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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My overall recommendation: for decades corporate policy manuals and HR departments have told people they are responsible for their own careers. It's about time people really heeded those warnings.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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People who don't have as much power as they would like often begin by attributing their difficulties to the environment - competitors, bosses, economic circumstances, and so forth. But in reality people are customarily their own biggest impediment to being as powerful as they would like.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Advocates of knowledge management as the next big thing have advanced the proposition that what companies need is more intellectual capital. While that is undeniably true, its only partly true. What those advocates are forgetting is that knowledge is only useful if you do something with it.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Take care of your customers, and you will have a successful business. Don't, and you won't. The airlines need to figure this out - soon.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Most organisations say they want creativity, but really they do not.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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The single most significant change has been the globalization of labor markets. Product markets - trade in goods - have been globalizing for years. But now, with the reduction in communication expenses and the building of all sorts of IT infrastructure, essentially any job can be done almost anywhere.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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The individual attributes of warmth and competence are often perceived to be negatively correlated. That doesn't mean they actually are, but that's how people perceive the world. So, cruel people, those who gave negative book reviews, for instance, were seen as less likeable but as more intelligent.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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People need to be ready to have truly global careers. Just as companies now face world-wide competition, so, too, do people. Therefore, individuals need to get out in the world more - some large percentage of Americans don't even have a passport - and work in different countries.
Jeffrey Pfeffer
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Personal growth and professional development require mostly being treated like an adult, which is pretty much the opposite of what happens in most workplaces. People need to be able to make decisions. To do that effectively, they need information and training in how to use it.
Jeffrey Pfeffer