John T. Chambers Quotes

I don't like having managers.

Structure is not about moving boxes around on a chart. Structure is about power.

Everywhere in life, everywhere in the world, there has to be bosses.

He that cannot obey, cannot command.

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

Bad leaders believe that they have to project control at all times.

I run a tight ship, but I try and make it seem like I'm not doing that at all.

The basic principle is I command, and my employees carry it out immediately.

A lot of us have jobs where we need to give people structure but that is different from controlling.

Like a good parent can't also be his child's best friend, a leader with authority requires some separation from subordinates.

Military organization, like religious organization, can be seen as a paradigm of organization in general.

Any non-commissioned officer is more of an enemy to a recruit, any schoolmaster to a pupil, then they are if they were free.

Order is power.

It is reassuring for people to feel they have a boss, someone who knows the answers and has charted the course.

He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.

I know what hierarchy and discipline mean. Without those, we will never have order and progress.

Through obedience learn to command.

My subordinates followed my orders.

Learn to obey before you command.

A sailing ship is no democracy; you don't caucus a crew as to where you'll go anymore than you inquire when they'd like to shorten sail.

That the more authoritarian organizations survive and prevail goes generally unnoticed because people focus on the objectives of organizations, which are many and varied, rather than on their structures, which lend to be similar.

I don't mind how much my Ministers talk, so long as they do what I say.

Nobody is going to delegate a lot of power to a secretary that they can't control.

The principle of subordination is the great bond of union and harmony through the universe.

The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands.