Simon Baker Quotes

Every company has two organizational structures: The formal one is written on the charts; the other is the everyday relationship of the men and women in the organization.

Practically every profession has a really political environment. I think the world has become more competitive. There are so many people in every place competing for small slices of success and power. It's a heated atmosphere and whenever you have competition, you're going to have more politics and manipulation.

All power rests on hierarchy: An army is nothing but a well-organized lynch mob.

I think the writer's quite low down in the hierarchy really. But the fact that they took the piss out of Nicholas [Hynter] who, besides being the director, is also director of the National Theatre is, I'd have thought, slightly more risky.

We all have hierarchies at work - even on set, the runner would never walk up to the director and ask for a cup of coffee.

As dutiful bishops soon discover, authoritarianism, or control from the top down, characterizes the hierarchical tradition.

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.

Even the frankest and bravest of subordinates do not talk with their boss the same way they talk with colleagues.

The only thing I believe is this: A player does not have to like a manager and he does not have to respect a manager. All he has to do is obey the rules.

The Iron Law of Oligarchy: every field of human endeavor, every kind of organization, will always be led by a relatively small elite.

If you've been on top of the food chain in the Armed Forces, that's who you are. You're used to dealing with your life in a particular way.

I think, in any workplace environment, the atmosphere trickles down from the top.

Positions do not really matter.

The Spectator' has to be managed and people have to report. We all have bosses in this world and that's true of 'The Spectator' too.

The hierarchy plays out in the writers room, and you, as a staff writer, need to know your place.

Humans want to know the hierarchy; it's important for there to be one leader.

But I like to think that a lot of managers and executives trying to solve problems miss the forest for the trees by forgetting to look at their people -- not at how much more they can get from their people or how they can more effectively manage their people. I think they need to look a little more closely at what it's like for their people to come to work there every day.

Once in a while there's wisdom in recognizing that the Boss is.

All organizations are hierarchical. At each level people serve under those above them. An organization is therefore a structured institution. If it is not structured, it is a mob. Mobs do not get things done, they destroy things.

People above you, they never want to share power with you. Why you look to them? They give you nothing. People below you, you give them hope, you give them respect, they give you power, cause they don't think they have any, so they don't mind giving it up.

What exactly was the difference? he wondered to himself. And who decided which people wore the striped pajamas and which people wore the uniforms?

I do think that one needs to have respect for people who are older. And I really do love the idea that one can respect generations.

Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering.

There's a place for everything and everyone, you know. That is the mistake they make above. They think that only certain people have a place. Only certain kinds of people belong. The rest is waste. But even waste must have a place. Otherwise it will clog and clot, and rot and fester.

One of the hardest lessons in young Sam's life had been finding out that the people in charge weren't in charge. It had been finding out that governments were not, on the whole, staffed by people who had a grip, and that plans were what people made instead of thinking.