Margaret Heffernan Quotes

Don't blame the boss. He has enough problems.

I think in any organization you want your manager to have a strong opinion. You don't want them to just say, 'Yes, sir' to things they don't believe in.

Sometimes, when life moves along, you're presented with situations where you find it necessary to speak because so many people either seem to be afraid to or, more sinister, are unwilling to face things and let things go and worry about their own situations.

Something as simple as transparency is really scalable because it quickly impacts the culture. And the culture is something everyone feels. If upper management is really transparent with everyone, that has this amplifying effect. Then you tend to attract players who operate that way, on the same wavelength, and coaches and fans.

The secret of successful managing is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the four guys who haven't made up their minds.

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

Thats why my biggest problems were with LL and Run.

This whole idea of visibility by the public creates a pretty powerful lever. In the new transparency era, you are able to make change you would otherwise have difficulty making. It's no longer possible for somebody just to bury the problem. It's the reason why things like WikiLeaks are important.

Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny.

The single hardest part of leading any organization is knowing what is going on. There's too much noise in the system, too much complexity: you absolutely depend on people speaking up and raising concerns.

History has shown that one cannot legislate a culture of integrity. And yet, one of the paramount responsibilities and challenges of corporate leadership is to ensure such a culture.

Many CEOs and leaders think that silence is indeed golden, that consensus is bliss. It is - sometimes. But more often what it signifies is that there are no respected processes for surfacing concerns and dissent.

I hope we'll be able to solve these problems before we leave.

The biggest cowards are managers who don't let people know where they stand.

Public hangings are teaching moments. Every company has to do it. A teaching moment is worth a thousand CEO speeches. CEOs can talk and blab each day about culture, but the employees all know who the jerks are. They could name the jerks for you. It's just cultural. People just don't want to do it.

Most companies don't have a good mechanism to give the CEO real, honest feedback.

Corruption undermines public confidence in our country and institutions. It is a huge cost to the economy. Combating it will take courage, determination and perseverance. The most effective means of doing it is by creating a climate not receptive to corruption.

As a politician, you can run from your problems or run toward your problems.

The government and the Party are always blaming the comrades doing local work but never themselves, always seeing their own achievements but never their own shortcomings, and always welcoming flattery but never criticism....

Culture is what happens when the CEO isn't in the room.

When we uncovered the Hinkley case, there were so many other cases like it, and they're just catching up. And we're just starting to see the damage. I was hoping by now there would be more transparency and less defeat and cover-up. I haven't seen much of that change.

Taking the time to identify and infuse values certainly does affect outcomes and is one of the most important things to get right as the CEO.

It takes time for people to understand how to hold leaders accountable.

It doesn't matter what's written on a coffee mug or on a 'culture' slide; what you do as a CEO, day in and day out, and how you behave will define your company's culture.

I really want to institute a culture that has nothing to do with shots or minutes or anything like that. It starts with a foundation of service.