how meta

"I don't think you want a management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work."

- Mark Zuckerberg

a joke that is shared exclusively by a small group of people.

"At any given moment, 90% of middle-to-senior management don't know what they're doing."
- John Cleese [born 1939] in reference to his BBC experience

ministry of silly walks

“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.”
– John Cleese

he speaks

"Without metrics you can't manage."
- Jared Kushner

don't waste time

"Never be bashful about ending the meeting early."
- Chris Sacca

all men dream but not equally

"Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals. It can only be ensured by instinct, sharpened by thought practicing the stroke so often that at the crisis it is as natural as a reflex."

- T.E. Lawrence

mouse house

"If you want to accelerate your chances of success, you've got to double your failure rate."
- Michael Eisner

"We all have skeletons in our closet; we're judged by how we manage them."
- Dr. Oz

Model T

"Why is it that I get the whole person, when what I wanted was a pair of hands?"
- Henry Ford

"What gets measured gets managed."

"The biggest risk in a business is for a management not to take any."
- Louis Lagassé

what is 6 Sigma?

managers and meetings

Why the office isn't the best place to get work done:

creativity

"... more than rigor, management discipline, integrity or even vision -- successfully navigating an increasing complex world will require creativity, which emerged as the number one leadership competency."
- 2010 IBM CEO study press release here.

customer relationship management

Ford and Model T, 1921

If Henry Ford had listened to his customers he would have built a better horse and buggy.

Cash Cow

The Growth Share Matrix is a framework to help companies think about the priority (and resources) that they should give to their different businesses, explains the Economist here.

middling management

Munich Opera House

"Being an executive does not require very developed frontal lobes, but rather a combination of charisma, a capacity to sustain boredom, and the ability to shallowly perform on harrying schedules. Add to these tasks the 'duty' of attending opera performances."

- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan, pg. 166

Image source here.

Inflection Point

"The inevitable part of every inflection point is the valley of death -- the hostile landscape through which you and your company must struggle or else perish."

- Intel's Andy Grove on managing through unknown territory.

An earlier reference to Grove here.

Kaizen

An Amsterdam diamond polisher looks at the diamond through a lupe before polishing.

Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning, roughly, continuous, gradual improvement as in the polishing of a diamond.

Taj Mumbai

Mumbai's luxury hotel is managed by a German:



Update: Nov 27, 2008