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The lower the rank of managers, the more they know about fewer things. The higher the rank of managers, the less they know about many things.

— Russell L. Ackoff p. 2 cited in: Gregory H. Watson (2010)

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Leadership

More quotes by Russell L. Ackoff

When a business is bought, it is bought for its potential—for its future, not its past.

Re-Creating the Corporation (1999)

A mission statement should define the business that the organization wants to be in, not necessarily what it is in.

Re-Creating the Corporation (1999)

Over time, every way of thinking generates important problems that it cannot solve.

Re-Creating the Corporation (1999)

The only managers that have simple problems have simple minds.

Ackoff (2007)

The basic managerial idea introduced by systems thinking, is that to manage a system effectively, you might focus on the interactions of the parts rather than their behavior taken separately.

Russell L. Ackoff and Fred Emery (1972)

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Political leaders are never leaders. For leaders we have to look to the Awakeners! Lao Tse, Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Milarepa, Gurdjiev, Krishnamurti.

Henry Miller My Bike & Other Friends (1977)

It's simply to say that managers and investors alike must understand that accounting numbers is the beginning, not the end, of business valuation.

Warren Buffett Letters to Shareholders (1957)

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.

George S. Patton

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

George S. Patton War As I Knew It (1947)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Russell L. Ackoff (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.