Thoughts on boardroom battles

Published: Dec 10, 2016 06:42:47 AM IST

Updated: Dec 9, 2016 12:10:16 PM IST

In business, when two people always agree, one of them is irrelevant.
—William Wrigley

Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we are all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories.
—Alan Kay

Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
—Walter Lippmann

The aim of argument and of discussion should not be victory, but progress.
—Joseph Joubert

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
—Napoleon Bonaparte

Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.
—Max Lucado

Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
—Ronald Reagan

When you have no one to answer to, vendetta as investment strategy is as legitimate as anything.
—Carl Icahn

Get me inside any boardroom, and I’ll get any decision I want.
—Tom Stoppard

A boardroom is a collection of individuals, and individuals have varying motives, egos, agendas and qualifications. Sometimes the dynamics can go off track.
—Carly Fiorina

The entrance strategy is actually more important than the exit strategy.
—Edward Lampert

People will do things in a boardroom that they would never do as an individual. Group decisions, no personal liability.
—Richard Schaden

Image: William, Walter: Getty Images; Edward: Peter Morgan / Reuters; Napoleon: Deagostini / Getty Images; Carl: Reuters; Tom: Dylan Martinez / Reuters; Ronald: Mal Langsdon / Reuters; Carly: Mike Blake / Reuter

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(This story appears in the 23 December, 2016 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)