Robert Townsend Quotations

Top" management is supposed to be a tree full of owls-hooting when management heads into the wrong part of the forest. I'm still unpersuaded they even know where the forest is.

Make every decision as if you owned the whole company.

Many ideas are good for a limited time - not forever.

Most people in big companies are administered, not led. They are treated as personnel, not people.

One of the most important tasks of a manager is to eliminate his people's excuses for failure.

If asked when you can deliver something, ask for time to think. Build in a margin of safety. Name a date. Then deliver it earlier than you promised. You'll be very valuable wherever you are.

True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.

Flooded vehicles are sometimes cleaned up by unscrupulous sellers without disclosure of flood damage. In most states, this is illegal, but unfortunately some vehicles will slip through the system.

These are stretch targets - they are not easy for us.

All organizations are at least 50 percent waste - waste people, waste effort, waste space, and waste time.

All organizations are at least 50 percent waste -- waste people, waste effort, waste space, and waste time.

They know they're very good issues to be fighting for. They all feel good about it.

If people are coming to work excited...if they're making mistakes freely and fearlessly...if they're having fun...if they're concentrating on doing things, rather than preparing reports and going to meetings...then somewhere you have a leader.

Cars that have been seriously damaged in one state can be wind up in another.

The world is divided into two classes of people: the few who make good on their promises and the many who don't; get in Column A and stay there. You'll be valuable wherever you go.

The artist must conceive with warmth yet execute with coolness.

It's a poor bureaucrat who can't stall a good idea until even its sponsor is relieved to see it dead and officially buried.

Getting there isn't half the fun - it's all the fun.

Is what I'm doing or about to do getting us closer to our objective?

When you get right down to it, one of the most important tasks of a leader is to eliminate his people's excuse for failure.

A good manager doesn't try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of his people. If you're the boss and your people fight you openly when they think that you are wrong - that's healthy.

A good leader needs to have a compass in his head and a bar of steel in his heart.

Compromise is usually bad. It should be a last resort. If two departments or divisions have a problem they can't solve and it comes up to you, listen to both sides and then pick one or the other. This places solid accountability on the winner to make it work. Condition your people to avoid compromise.

"Top" management is supposed to be a tree full of owls-hooting when management heads into the wrong part of the forest. I'm still unpersuaded they even know where the forest is.

Managers must have the discipline not to keep pulling up the flowers to see if their roots are healthy.

Consultants are people who borrow your watch and tell you what time it is, and then walk off with the watch.

Make every decision as if you owned the company.

We know there is a problem with communication but we are not going to discuss it in front of the entire staff.

If you have to have a policy manual, publish the 'Ten Commandments.'

If you don't do it excellently, don't do it at all. Because if it's not excellent, it won't be profitable or fun.

Don't hire a master to paint you a masterpiece and then assign a roomful of schoolboy artists to look over his shoulder and make suggestions.

It's been my experience that the people who gain trust, loyalty, excitement, and energy fast are the ones who pass on the credit to the people who have really done the work. A leader doesnt need any credit... He's getting more credit than he deserves anyway.

An idea's worth is directly proportional to the opposition created.

To keep an organization young and fit, don't hire anyone until everybody's so overworked they'll be glad to see the newcomer no matter where he sits.

Due to budget cutbacks, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.

If people are coming to work excited. . . if they're making mistakes freely and fearlessly. . . if they're having fun. . . if they're concentrating on doing things rather than preparing reports and going to meetings-then somewhere you have leaders.

A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs.