Lee Iacocca Quotes

Leadership is inspiring people. Management is keeping the trains running on time.

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success

Management means, in the last analysis, the substitution of thought for brawn and muscle, of knowledge for folkways and superstition, and of cooperation for force. It means the substitution of responsibility for obedience to rank, and of authority of performance for the authority of rank.

Delegating doesn't mean passing off work you don't enjoy, but letting your employees stretch their skills and judgment.

I hire people brighter than me and then I get out of their way.

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.

And I'd say one of the great lessons I've learned over the past couple of decades, from a management perspective, is that really when you come down to it, it really is all about people and all about leadership.

In every business, in every industry, management does matter.

My definition of an executive's job is brief and to the point. It is simply this: Getting things done through other people.

Like most entrepreneurs, getting motivated to work has never been a problem for me; focus comes through delegating tasks to the best people you can find.

Efficient management without effective leadership is, as one individual phrased, it, "like straightening deck chairs on the Titanic".

Management is nature's way of removing idiots from the productive flow.

CEOs who can hire properly, that's the most important part of the job. The CEO's job is really to hire the right team and execute the vision second.

The best way to be productive is to have a great team. So I spend more time than most CEOs on human resources. That's 20 percent of my week.

There is no better way to manage than by walking around. Autocracy doesn't work. Talk to people in their offices, find out what's on their minds.

Leadership is working with goals and vision; management is working with objectives.

Of all the things I've done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.

As a CEO, you get sucked into dealing with all the tasks of being a CEO. There's a big meeting, a big discussion, and you get into all the big issues, which is your job. But what CEOs often lose sight of is that it's all about the people who work for you. For every 1,000 decisions, 999 were being made when I was not in the room.

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

I used to think business was 50 percent having the right people. Now I think it's 80 percent.

The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them.

I have learned to delegate.

I put projects together. I put people together.

The bottom line is, when people are crystal clear about the most important priorities of the organization and team they work with and prioritized their work around those top priorities, not only are they many times more productive, they discover they have the time they need to have a whole life.

Hire the best people, and trust what you hired them to do.