“You can buy a man’s time, you can buy a man’s physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of skilled muscular motions per hour or day. But you cannot buy enthusiasm; you cannot buy initiative; you cannot buy loyalty; you cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds and souls. You have to earn these things … It is ironic that Americans —the most advanced people technically, mechanically and industrially—should have waited until a comparatively recent period to inquire into the most promising single source of productivity: namely, the human will to work. It is hopeful, on the other hand, that the search is now under way.”

Clarence Francis — Chairman, General Foods

If you haven’t heard of Francis lately, it’s not because General Foods isn’t important. It’s because Francis spoke these words shortly after World War II. In 1952, Time Magazine ran an article on “human resources” which followed the Francis quote by saying, “In that search, at midcentury, lies the finest hope and promise of the Capitalist Revolution.”

How are that hope and promise holding out, 58 years later? While it may be the case that many people understand Francis’s idea better now than they did in 1952, we are a long way from everybody knowing it, and yet farther from everybody doing it.

See the whole Time article here: A New Art Brings a Revolution to Industry: Human Relations.

“Loose Hands Hold More Cookies”.

I got this from my high school friend Chapman Godbey, currently a Commander in the US Naval Service. He had offered (via Facebook) to a friend who is new at managing corporate staff. I suspect that Chap is an excellent leader.

For more Chap-flavored wisdom, see here for his Navy Times piece on adopting technology. I think he needs to write a book or two.

If you tell your staff exactly how do to their jobs, you stifle your company on every front. Your staff won’t have a reason to think, grow or contribute. They won’t have a reason to create or explore new ways to work better. Your organization will get smarter only as fast as you get smarter, instead of getting smarter through the growth of all your staff. You will spend much of your time teaching details and correcting “errors”, rather than using your time to think or create. And any staff with real potential will soon leave for employment that will better reward their brains and energy.

Yes, your staff need the benefit of your experience (if you’ve got it). Yes, your staff need to know their goals (whether it’s a sales guy who needs to create $1 million in net revenue in 2010, or the office administrator who needs to re-do your 80′s-era lobby). Yes, your staff need to know constraints (whether it’s “your sales territory is North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and never lie to a prospect” or “Your decorating budget is $5,000 and let me see the furniture you choose for one final look before you buy it. Feel free to spend less.”) But after you give them what they need to know, get out of their way and let them use their smarts and inspiration to create some value on their own.

———————

*I can’t remember where I first learned this concept, but I owe that author a debt. Please let me know if you have the original quote and source.

With this new client, I can now count four current clients who pay their invoices within ~48 hours of receipt. At least three of these clients describe themselves as “conservative” with their money. At least one refuses to carry business debt. All are privately owned.

If they treat their vendors this well, can you imagine how well they treat their customers?

Discipline is remembering what you want.
Discipline is remembering what you want.
Discipline is remembering what you want.

And, of course, doing what it takes to get what you want.

Adds the coach: there is never enough time to be sure (and if you are sure, you’re probably too late), but you must always keep your balance.

Wise words in any time, but especially now when many are panicking. UCLA alumnus Andrew Hill joined with Wooden to write a business book of the same title. Check it out if you need some balance in these unsettled times.

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.

- Steve Jobs

Businesspeople and citizens deal with information all the time.  We have access to more than we could ever digest.  Our critical task is to somehow identify, access, and the use the pieces that we need, without having to examine every piece that exists. One version of the “KGB Information Paradox” states that the former Soviet agency paralyzed itself by acquiring so much data that they couldn’t possibly sift through it fast enough to glean any meaning.

Over the centuries, many thinkers have commented on the role of information.  For fun and reference, here are a few:

Information is the manager’s main tool, indeed the manager’s “capital,” and it is he who must decide what information he needs and how to use it.

— Peter Drucker,  “Managing the Information Explosion” The Wall Street Journal, April 10, 1980

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

— T. S. Eliot, Choruses from The Rock

Information is the currency of democracy.

— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Information is not Knowledge.  Knowledge is not Wisdom.  Wisdom is not Truth.  Truth is not Beauty.  Beauty is not Love.  Love is not Music.  Music is the Best.

—  Frank Zappa

The first three quotes, above, are from a compilation by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.  The last is something I saw on a t-shirt at a Phish concert.

Interesting, then, to see the following job ad:

Quantitative Trading Strategist

Description:

Must be currently in a similar role at one of the following firms: Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley.

Responsibilities:

* Development of new models and trading strategies as well as improving existing strategies
* Senior level, revenue producing role within a top Fixed Income alternative investment firm
* Support Portfolio Manager requests for strategy analysis, new trade pricing, and risk monitor tools
* Real time analysis of Risk, P&L, and trading opportunities

[snip]

Note the emphasis on must and currently.  I wonder if the recruiter assumes that anyone left at Lehman, etc. must be the best of the best?

In any case, the management point is this:  while Lehman as a whole package is clearly in the tank, many of the people inside Lehman (currently and formerly) have plenty to offer.  This includes the ones who had a hand in the failures, if they’ve been good observers and have learned from the experience.