Strategies grow initially like weeds in a garden, they are not cultivated like tomatoes in a hothouse. Henry Mintzberg More Quotes by Henry Mintzberg More Quotes From Henry Mintzberg Strategy making needs to function beyond the boxes to encourage the informal learning that produces new perspectives and new combinations... Once managers understand this, they can avoid other costly misadventures caused by applying formal techniques, without judgement and intuition, to problem solving. Henry Mintzberg intuition perspective judgement We have great managers who havent spent a day in management school. Do we have great surgeons that havent spent a day in surgical school? Henry Mintzberg great-men management school While hard data may inform the intellect, it is largely soft data that generates wisdom. Henry Mintzberg intellect data may Empowerment is what managers do to people. Engagement is what managers do with people. Henry Mintzberg empowerment leadership people Basically, managing is about influencing action. Managing is about helping organizations and units to get things done, which means action. Sometimes, managers manage actions directly. They fight fires. They manage projects. They negotiate contracts. Henry Mintzberg fighting fire mean The prime occupational hazard of a manager is superficiality. Henry Mintzberg hazards managers prime We're all flawed, but basically, effective managers are people whose flaws are not fatal under the circumstances. Maybe the best managers are simply ordinary, healthy people who aren't too screwed up. Henry Mintzberg healthy ordinary people Corporations are economic entities, to be sure, but they are also social institutions that must justify their existence by their overall contribution to society. Henry Mintzberg corporations economic social What you get out of an M.B.A. programme, no matter how much experience, is functional tools and understanding in disciplines: you'll understand economics, you'll understand marketing, finance, accounting. That, M.B.A. programmes do very well. Henry Mintzberg discipline marketing understanding Managers who don't lead are quite discouraging, but leaders who don't manage don't know what's going on. It's a phony separation that people are making between the two. Henry Mintzberg leader two people You can teach all sorts of things that improve the practice of management with people who are managers. What you cannot do is teach management to somebody who is not a manager, the way you cannot teach surgery to somebody whose not a surgeon. Henry Mintzberg practice people way What I have against M.B.A.s is the assumption that you come out of a two-year program probably never having been a manager - at least for full-time younger people M.B.A. programs - and assume you are ready to manage. Henry Mintzberg two people years Organizations should be built and managers should be functioning so people can be naturally empowered. If someone's doing their job, if someone's working in one of your warehouses, say, they should know their job better than anybody. They don't need to be 'empowered,' but encouraged and left alone to be able to do what they know best. Henry Mintzberg organization jobs people The idea that you can take smart but inexperienced 25-year-olds who never managed anything and turn them into effective managers via two years of classroom training is ludicrous. Henry Mintzberg smart years ideas Never set out to be the best. It's too low a standard. Set out to be good. Do Your best. Henry Mintzberg standards-set being-the-best lows Most of the time, strategies should not be formulating strategy at all; they should be getting on with implementing strategies they already have. Henry Mintzberg implementing strategy should What we call a financial crisis is really at its core a crisis of management, and not just a crisis of management, but a crisis of management culture. ...In other words, what you had is a detachment of people who know the business from people who are running the business. Henry Mintzberg democracy running people Five coordinating mechanisms seem to explain the fundamental ways in which organizations coordinate their work: mutual adjustment, direct supervision, standardization of work processes, standardization of work outputs, and standardization of worker skills. Henry Mintzberg work-out skills organization An obsession with control generally seems to reflect a fear of uncertainty. Henry Mintzberg uncertainty obsession seems I describe management as arts, crafts and science. It is a practice that draws on arts, craft and science and there is a lot of craft - meaning experience - there is a certain amount of craft meaning insight, creativity and vision, and there is the use of science, technique or analysis. Henry Mintzberg creativity practice art
