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We’re all flawed, but basically, effective managers are people whose flaws are not fatal under the circumstances. Maybe the best managers are simply ordinary, healthy people who aren’t too screwed up.
—Henry MintzbergPeople don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad managers.
—Marcus BuckinghamAn employee’s motivation is a direct result of the sum of interactions with his or her manager.
—Bob NelsonThe productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.
—Peter DruckerWe don’t have as many managers as we should, but we would rather have too few than too many.
—Larry PageWe mislead ourselves when we pretend we can make someone into an effective manager by putting them through a few courses in business school.
—Matthew StewartThe inability to delegate is one of the biggest problems I see with managers at all levels.
—Eli BroadA manager is a guide. He takes a group of people and says, ‘With you I can make us a success; I can show you the way’.
—Arsène WengerThe key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.
—Casey StengelA good manager is a man who isn’t worried about his own career but rather the career of those who work for him.
—HSM BurnsOne of the most important tasks of a manager is to eliminate his people’s excuses for failure.
—Robert Townsend Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline carrying it out.
—Stephen CoveyA manager is not a person who can do the work better than his men; he is a person who can get his men to do the work better than he can.
—Frederick W SmithMost managers were trained to be the thing they most despise, bureaucrats.
—Alvin Toffler
(This story appears in the 16 August, 2019 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)