I don’t recall the exact date this took place, but it was clearly the day that I realized being an executive depended more on what you had to do than on what your title was. We had a very serious employee problem. Money had been stolen. The chairman of the firm called me in and told me to deal with it. That’s all he said, “Deal with it.” I knew that I had become an executive when it sunk in that I, and no one else, had not only to decide what to do, but also to do it.
Being an executive depends more on the decisions you have to make than on what your title is.
Good executives find out what went wrong, not just who.
The higher you climb up the executive ladder, the more you will be judged by how well you lead others.
Managers think about today; executives think about next year.
Those who enjoy responsibility tend to get it; those who simply like authority usually lose it.
Doing a job well yourself is one thing; getting others to do a job well is what executives do.
Good executives don’t get in other people’s way.
Executives are able to distinguish between problems and annoyances.
Effective executives know that anything that increases employees’ pride in their work will increase their enthusiasm for making things even better, so they never let improvements go unnoticed.
A good executive makes problems so interesting that everyone wants to work on them.
Executives should set themselves above their employees only in assuming responsibility.
As an executive, what happens when you’re not there is as important as what happens when you are there.
Effective executives don’t over-supervise competent people.
Executives get better results by asking for specific results.
Effective management requires delegation.
Setbacks are inevitable and the more senior your position the more severe are the consequences; but you must continue to believe in yourself.
Effective executives praise good tries as well as wins.
It takes a different type of person to run a business than it does to start one; entrepreneurs usually aren’t good executives, and vice versa.
The tougher the problems, the higher paid are the executives who have to deal with them.
There’s always room at the top; many who get there get complacent and fall off.
No matter how far up the executive ladder you go, somewhere you have a boss.
Any employee may know how to climb a ladder; but an executive knows which wall to lean it against.
The best executives build such effective organizations that they can function almost on their own.
Always on the to-do list of the effective executive is to expect the unexpected.