Harold Geneen was the legendary CEO of the legendary conglomerate ITT. He wrote a book many years ago, titled "Managing"
Far too often, the solution taken to solve performance problems is to restructure. But the structure is almost never the culprit. Basketball teams all have the same structure, but consider the disparity in performance between teams, even between teams whose members are individually comparable in talent. Geneen has this to say:
“On paper, the structure and organization of ITT was not very different from that of most large corporations in the United States. But an organizational chart is really only a piece of paper, a static dumb thing, that identifies a chain of command of people and functions. True management begins only when you put all these people together, functioning together, in a vital, human interrelationship so that the company performs as a single team, driving onward toward the goals set by the chief executive. These human interrelationships, in all their facets, are what differentiate one company from another.. On paper, one company can appear to be exactly like another, and in reality be completely different. The important policies, decisions, and activities of a company are those which deal with people, not functions.”
On managing risk:
“Good management is more than solving problems as they arise. Good planning must include the anticipation of problems that are likely to arise and the steps to be taken to avoid them.”
