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Recall the role of the most successful business executives of
all time. Who are they? What were their unique talents? What special techniques
made them succeed where others fail? Were they just lucky, or did they develop
extraordinary insights? Do you have to be born with their capabilities? Or can
you acquire their uncommonly effective way of managing?
First, let us
answer the questions about their talents, their techniques, their luck, their
innate capabilities, and their responsibility for their self-development.
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Yes,
the most successful business executives do have a unique talent. They have
learned to arrange their efforts in a systematic order. This approach, known as
the “management process,” focuses their knowledge and energy sequentially on
the critical problems that face a business organization. This process prevents
successful executives from flailing away uselessly at trivial matters or in
managing in hit-or-miss fashion.
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Yes,
These executives do call upon a reserve of special
techniques designed for use by managers. They do so because they understand
that the work of management is unique. It is different from any other kind of
human activity. It is the only occupation whose results depend almost entirely
upon the efforts of other people. And, over the years, these executives have
perfected a number of uncommonly appropriate techniques for solving problems
and making the kinds of decisions that spell success.
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No,
these executives were not lucky, or at least not lucky by accident. They made
their good fortune by training themselves to become sensitive to the nuances of
business and organizational situations. The signs and symptoms of success and
failure are hidden somewhere in every risky or difficult situation. Ineffective
executives do not see or hear the signals. Effective executives not only know
where to search for clues; they also see what others miss and hear what others
do not listen to.
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No,
these extraordinary executives were not born with their unique capabilities. To
a person, they developed the skills that led to their success. They were alert
to the “acres of diamonds” that are figuratively under the feet of anyone who
truly wants to advance in management. They did not waste their time seeking
miracles. Instead they took advantage of the wealth of managerial knowledge
that is readily available to anyone who has to the good sense to pick it up and
perfect it for his use.
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Finally,
yes, can you acquire for yourself the uncommonly effective way of managing that
these executives have developed.
Executive success patterns
Researches by
various reputable institutions of the characteristics of good managers current and past, reveals a unique pattern of management. Universally, they project the following characteristic patterns:
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They do not embark on any venture without a
carefully conceived plan of action. They set specific goals in advance and
prescribe procedures for their attainment. Henry Laurence Gantt, for example,
was a pioneering industrial engineer who developed the production planning and progress control
chart that enabled the United States
in Worlds War I to meet unheard-of production targets. William Batt, president of the international specialty steel
company, SKF Industries, applied even more up-to-date planning concepts in
leading the United States,
incredible production effort in World War II.
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They organize
their resources, especially their human ones, in structures designed to support
the plans they have developed. Principal among such company organizers are
Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., Ralph J. Cordiner, and Fowler
McCormick. Sloan conceived of the technique that unified General Motors and
made it the powerful business giant it is today. Cordiner
took a ponderous, stagnating General Electric in the 1950s and decentralized it
into a vigorous organization with dozens of leading product lines. And the
success of International Harvester Company depended not so much on its superb
machinery as on the organizing genius of its president, Fowler McCormick.
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They respect and use the power of their human
resources. These executives know what makes their employees tick. They are
expert at motivation and communications. All are persuasive leaders, although
their styles of leadership vary widely. Henning Webb Prentis,
Jr., who helped to make the Armstrong Cork Company an international name, was
an individual of great inspirational presence. Jon Erik Johnson, founder of
Texas Instruments, Inc., found a way to release the productivity of his work
forces by helping employees to focus on the work itself rather than depending upon
their managers t
coerce them. Thomas E. Millsop, president of
Weirton Steel Company, was simply a warmly personal human being whose employees
believed implicitly in him. William Cooper Procter, the soap-maker founder of
Procter & Gamble, was a pioneer in formalizing the equitable treatment of
all employees.
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They leave nothing to chance; instead they
depend upon continual surveillance and control. They set specific targets
and standards for their operations and regularly measure progress toward them.
They correct conditions immediately as results get out of line. The great
steelmaker, Andrew Carnegie, was one of the first proponents of cost
accounting. Henry J. Kaiser, founder of 100 companies, showed during World War
II how strict production controls could get ships built on time. J. Edgar
Thompson, railroad builder of the early 1800s, pioneered in cost control. And
in a much different field, Joyce Clyde Hall made the greeting card business a
major industry through his unique inventory control system at Hallmark Cards,
Inc.
Executive success skills
Good managers all follow the pattern of management indicated
by the foregoing conclusions. Exceptional executives, however, give themselves
an extra edge by acquiring and developing a unique battery of effective skills,
such as the following:
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They have learned to be expert problem
solvers and decision makers. They employ the unique combination of
intuitive and rational skills in dealing with the situations that face them.
Some, like Willard F. Rockwell, Jr. of Rockwell International Corporation,
depended upon assists from technology and precise mathematical techniques.
David-Packard and later assistant secretary of defense of the United
States, also placed great reliance on systematic problem solving.
Others, like Cyrus R. Smith, developer of passenger aviation and creator of
American Airlines, Inc., use a more intuitive approach when solving difficult
problems. All executives, however, first build a base on relevant data before
arriving at their decisions.
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They are effective in group meetings. In conferences, they can skillful hold or
direct the attention of their colleagues to matters of importance, and they can
develop a consensus. Executives like
John J. McCloy, sponsor of the merger that formed
Chase Manhattan Bank, exemplify this capability.
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They build effective, loyal staffs. They
do so by using perceptive employment methods and by making a personal
commitment to the training and development of their subordinates. Henry Sturgis
Dennison, president of Dennison Manufacturing Company, producer of labels and
labeling equipment, was especially progressive in this direction. So was Paul Gray Hoffman of the Studebaker Corporation and
Harold F. Smiddy of General Electric. Charles Perry
McCormick, of McCormick & Company spices, is a leader in the development of
staff through “multiple management” – assignments on junior boards of
directors.
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They base their analysis and decisions on
sound information. They are aware of management’s need for up-to-date,
worthwhile data. Thomas J. Watson, Jr., as head of IBM, was one of the first to
see how important the computer would be to the processing of data. Frederick R.
Kappel, as chairman of American Telephone &
Telegraph Co., had the vision to see that the operation of a business was
essentially one vast communication system.
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They don’t wait for things to happen.
They take the initiative. They are creative. Many of the most effective
business executives were, at the start, inventors and innovators. The list is
long; among the most notable: Thomas A. Edison, founder of the Edison General
Electric Company; James Cash Penney, who conceived of the retail chain store
with a “manager-partner;” George Eastman, who after developing the practical
box camera went on to become a leader in vertical integration and corporate
research; and Cyrus H. McCormick, who fathered installment selling and
money-back guarantees of agricultural equipment.
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They recognize the value of time and manage
it well. Henry Ford, the auto magnate, had a compulsive desire to fully use
the time of his machinery and of his employees. From that desire he developed
the assembly line, forerunner of modern automation. Eli Whitney realized before
anyone else the ultimate time-saving value of interchangeable parts. Harols B. “Mike” Maynard, one of the great industrial
engineering consultants, pointed the way to sophisticated time management
approaches with the development of predetermined elemental time standards.
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They are comfortable with change. They
accept its dynamic nature as a condition of business. They are flexible in its
management and are rarely defeated by it. David Sarnoff anticipated the change
that the radio would bring about in communications and seized the opportunity
to start Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Florence Nightingale Graham
forecast a change in economic life that would make every woman a potential
customer of her chain of Elisabeth Arden beauty salons. A.P. Giannini, founder of Bank of America, spotted a similar
trend earlier and made made branch banking and
customer loans a way of American life.
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They take full responsibility for their careers.
Each of these uniquely successful executives led the way in proving their own
opportunities. Many pulled themselves up by their assessment of their own
strengths and weaknesses. They are avid students of success patterns. The participate actively in self development activities – in
learning, listening, and reading. They enroll in night schools and courses. They
attend industry meetings and professional seminars. They will, of course, accept
any help upward they can get, but they do not build their careers upon that
expectation. Neither should you. And that, too, is what this program is all
about. It is designed to provide you with the extra skills you will need to
become an effective executive
Unique responsibilities and skills
When successful executives are viewed in perspective, they show two universal characteristics:
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Their responsibilities are unique to management,
and they carry out these functions in a predetermined, systematic way. They
follow what is known as the “management process.” They repeat this process day
by day, week by week, and year by year. Because this process is repeated over
and over again, some call it the “management cycle.”
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They engage in a unique combination of supporting
activities that require that they fulfill several roles and acquire a number of
different skills. Successful executives develop an expertise in filling these
roles and applying these special skills. Used in the pursuit of the management
process, these skills give the individuals who process them the “executive edge"
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