Volumes in the series on Lyndon Johnson, including Master of the Senate and The Path Power, describe how Johnson created resources out of nothing and built a substantial power base. Jeffrey Pfeffer More Quotes by Jeffrey Pfeffer More Quotes From Jeffrey Pfeffer Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn't go to hell if you take a day off. Jeffrey Pfeffer business leadership inspirational Successful organizations understand the importance of implementation, not just strategy, and, moreover, recognize the crucial role of their people in this process. Jeffrey Pfeffer organization successful people Doing the right thing is important, which is where strategy comes in. But doing that thing well—execution—is what sets companies apart. After all, every football play is designed to go for a huge gain. The reason it doesn’t is because of execution—people drop balls, miss blocks, go to the wrong place, and so forth. So, success depends on execution—on the ability to get things done. Jeffrey Pfeffer block play football Many companies believe incentives, financial incentives, are the answer to every problem or issue. But people are motivated by much more than money. In particular, people like to feel good about themselves and maintain their self-esteem. If companies spent more time working on people's feelings of self-worth, they wouldn't have to try, often unsuccessfully, to bribe people to do work. Jeffrey Pfeffer feel-good believe people Profits are related to customer retention. Customer retention is related to employee retention. Employee retention may or may not be related to benefits, but benefits could be part of the package that causes people to stay and -- by the way -- engage in discretionary effort. .. If you go into any organization that's customer-facing, you can tell in five minutes when the employees are feeling abused. They retaliate on the customers. Jeffrey Pfeffer effort organization people Personal growth and professional development require mostly being treated like an adult, which is pretty much the opposite of what happens in most workplaces. People need to be able to make decisions. To do that effectively, they need information and training in how to use it. Jeffrey Pfeffer decision opposites people Knowledge is only useful if you do something with it. Jeffrey Pfeffer intellectual-capital ifs Great strategy, not executed, can't possibly have any effect on performance because it doesn't actually affect anything. It's like planning for a successful surgery to remove a tumor. If no one picks up the knife and actually operates effectively, the diseases will persist. Jeffrey Pfeffer strategy planning successful You are more likely to acquire power by narrowing your focus and applying your energies, like the sun's rays, to a limited range of activities in a small number of domains. Jeffrey Pfeffer small-numbers rays focus The single biggest barrier to effective leadership is, in my view, the leadership industry itself. Instead of telling people the skills and behaviors they need to be effective in getting things done, we tell them almost the opposite - blandishments about how we wish people would be, and how we wish workplaces were. That information is worse than useless as, to the extent people believe it, they often wind up losing their jobs. Jeffrey Pfeffer views jobs believe You can't be normal and expect abnormal returns. Jeffrey Pfeffer abnormal normal return One way to feel good about oneself is to not fail. The easiest way to not fail is to not try in the first place. So, I see lots of people give up before they start. That way they don't have to face uncomfortable failures. They can sort of "remain on the sideline while the game is going on." While this may make people feel good about themselves, it won't get them any power or success. As any successful salesperson will tell you, if you haven't been rejected, you haven't tried enough with enough people. Jeffrey Pfeffer giving-up successful people I completely reject the idea that working adults need to be treated like infants or worse and not told the realities, harsh or not, about the world of work. Keeping people in the dark and filling them with stories that are either mostly fabricated, unusually rare, or both, doesn't do anyone any good. It is one of the reasons that workplaces and careers remain in such dire straits. Jeffrey Pfeffer careers dark reality So, the three qualities of a workplace that would develop people would be information sharing, investing in the training of the workforce, and giving employees the ability to use their training and information to make decisions. Jeffrey Pfeffer information-sharing giving people The best path to power combines two things: 1) a path that not many are taking and 2) something that you are capable and comfortable with doing. Jeffrey Pfeffer comfortable path two People need to be ready to have truly "global" careers. Just as companies now face world-wide competition, so, too, do people. Therefore, individuals need to get out in the world more - some large percentage of Americans don't even have a passport - and work in different countries. Jeffrey Pfeffer competition country people Point at solutions instead of at each other. Jeffrey Pfeffer solutions People will envy you to the extent that you start out with a group of people and you rise up the organization faster than them. Get over what your peers are thinking about you because your peers are also your competitors. Jeffrey Pfeffer thinking-about-you organization people Most organisations say they want creativity, but really they do not. Jeffrey Pfeffer creativity business want I don't think eliminating the knowing-doing gap depends on the amount of knowledge around. It depends much more on people's attitudes and intentions - do they actually want to turn knowledge into action, or just go through the motions of acting as if they are busy or are accomplishing something. Jeffrey Pfeffer acting attitude thinking
