35+ Harold Geneen Quotes On Education, Change And Innovation

Harold Geneen was an American businessman who was the president and CEO of ITT Corporation from 1959 to 1977. He is credited with transforming ITT into one of the world's largest conglomerates and is remembered for his aggressive business tactics. He is considered one of the most influential business executives of the 20th century. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Harold Geneen on education, leadership, change.

Top 10 Harold Geneen Quotes

1. The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication.
2. Uncertainty will always be part of the taking charge process.
3. In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.
4. Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. I think it is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises, but only performance is reality
8. If your desk isn't cluttered, you probably aren't doing your job.
9. 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.
10. 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 Short Quotes

• Performance stands out like a ton of diamonds. Nonperformance can always be explained away.
• We must not be hampered by yesterday's myths in concentrating on today's needs.
• Ninety-nine percent of all surprises in business are negative.
• Management manages by making decisions and by seeing that those decisions are implemented.
• Do you want my one-word secret of happiness? It's growth - - mental, financial you name it.
• Management must manage!
• It is much more difficult to measure nonperformance than performance.
• Better a good decision quickly than the best decision too late.
• It's better to take over and build upon an existing business than to start a new one.
• You can't run a business or anything else on a theory.

Harold Geneen Famous Quotes And Sayings

The highest art of professional management requires the literal ability to 'smell' a 'real fact' from all others. — Harold Geneen

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. — 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

What you manage in business is people — 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

If you keep working you'll last longer. I'd hate to spend the rest of my life trying to outwit an 18-inch fish. — Harold Geneen

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

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

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

The professional's grasp of the numbers is a measure of the control he has over the events that the figures represent. — Harold Geneen

The best way to sell yourself to others is first to sell the others to yourself. Check yourself against this list of obstacles to a pleasing personality: interrupting others; sarcasm; vanity; being a poor listener; insincere flattery; finding fault; challenging others without good cause; giving unsolicited advice; complaining; attitude of superiority; envy of others' success; poor posture and dress. — Harold Geneen

In the business world, everyone is always working at legitimate cross purposes, governed by self interest. — Harold Geneen

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. — Harold Geneen

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

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

Life Lessons by Harold Geneen

1. Harold Geneen taught the importance of having a clear vision and strategy for a business and the need to be flexible and adapt to changing market conditions.
2. He also highlighted the power of delegation and the need to empower employees to make decisions and take ownership of their work.
3. Finally, Geneen showed the importance of having a strong financial focus and understanding the financial implications of all business decisions.