Harold S. Geneen Quotes & Sayings

It's better to take over and build upon an existing business than to start a new one. — Harold S. Geneen

Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned. — Harold S. Geneen

The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success: Concentration, Discrimination, Organization, Innovation and Communication. — Harold S. Geneen

The worst disease which can afflict business executives in their work is not, as popularly supposed, alcoholism; it's egotism. — Harold S. Geneen

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. — Harold S. Geneen

If your desk isn't cluttered, you probably aren't doing your job. — Harold S. Geneen

You cannot run a business, or anything else, on a theory. — Harold S. Geneen

I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them. — Harold S. Geneen

In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later. — Harold S. Geneen

Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions. — Harold S. Geneen

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. — Harold S. Geneen

We must not be hampered by yesterday's myths in concentrating on today's needs. — Harold S. Geneen

Management manages by making decisions and by seeing that those decisions are implemented. — Harold S. Geneen

It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises-but only performance is reality. — Harold S. 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 S. Geneen

Performance stands out like a ton of diamonds. Nonperformance can always be explained away. — Harold S. Geneen

He suffered from paralysis by analysis. — Harold S. Geneen

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 S. Geneen

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. — Harold S. Geneen

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

It is much more difficult to measure nonperformance than performance. — Harold S. Geneen