Marvin Bower Quotations

The course of business shapes public opinion.

Decisions should be based on facts, objectively considered what I call the fact-founded, thought-through approach to decision making.

Decisions should be based on facts, objectively considered.

A business of high principle generates greater drive and effectiveness because people know that they can do the right thing decisively and with confidence.

A business of high principle attracts high-caliber people more easily, thereby gaining a basic competitive and profit edge.

The difference between a leadership and a command company can be very great indeed, because in a hierarchical situation, people who have concerns about reactions against themselves would simply not put forward negative information.

Leading fosters a working atmosphere that stimulates an open exchange of ideas and fosters dissent. People should show a genuine concern for one another and treat one another with fairness, as peers and friends. With such an atmosphere it should be a pleasure to come to work.

People should be judged on the basis of their performance, not nationality, personality, education, or personal traits and skills.

I believe that leaders and leadership teams working together in a proper design will run the business more effectively than by hierarchical, command-and-control managing. But I can't prove that. And there are no models.

If you are not willing to take pain to live by your principles, there is no point in having principles.