Herb Kelleher Quotes

Strong succession planning is a critical element of all the Johnson enterprises.

There would not be enough talent that's educated, developed and ready to take on the next leadership challenge, and it would cap our growth. Now we've put programs in place not to have that happen, but that could be a weakness.

A great advantage of a large corporation is supposed to be the large pool of talent in which its leaders can find and groom high achievers and successors.

The healthiest companies are always characterized by organic talent development.

You have got to attract the brightest and the best, but the brightest and best won't stay unless they see real career options.

Don't we realise that the student of today is the executive of tomorrow?

I love picking people. I started Blackstone, and we had no people, and now we have with our portfolio companies about 750,000 people all over the world. Everybody who is at a senior level has ultimately been picked by me.

The lesson is that, No. 1, this management has to be at the highest class possible. No. 2, they have to have a succession plan.

Why do I need succession planning? I'm very alert, I'm very vibrant. I have no intention to retire.

Not everybody is created equal, and it's important for companies to identify those high potentials and treat them differently, accelerate their development and pay them more. That process is so incredibly important to developing first-class leadership in a company.

LinkedIn is increasingly becoming a very strong place for companies to develop their talent plans, their recruitment plans, and so there are ways in which we can track some of the momentum there.

I think we're ready for succession. We just must try to do it right.

If you want to hire the best people, the best people are already doing pretty impressive things. They have their life plans, their picture for what they want to be doing. To figure out a way in which those trajectories align really takes time.

If you want to have the best employees, there really needs to be a vision and a mission. Talent looks for a mission. And if you have the best talent, that's the single biggest competitive advantage any company can have.

Our philosophy is to attract top talent and incentivise them to succeed. We have some of the top talent in the entire industry.

Many in top positions around Europe have devoted their lives to coaching.

I think United always had a plan for me. They nurtured me.

Often, organizations don't know how good they have it with a player or coach.

You'd like to transition with continuity, have people in your own organization rise up and continue forward, whether in coaching or personnel or players.

More and more, leadership, whether it's profit or nonprofit, is about recruiting and keeping talented people. That's the biggest challenge. Yes, you've got to create systems that will enable people easily to innovate continuously; you've got to be a system-builder. But finding and keeping geeks and shrinks is the biggest challenge. That means leaders have got to be salespeople, they've got to be recruiters, and they've got to be actively able to understand and keep the talent they have. Leadership is courtship. That's what it's becoming.

Some think that it is cruel or brutal to remove the bottom 10 percent of our people. It isn't. It's just the opposite. What I think is brutal and "false kindness" is keeping people around who aren't going to grow and prosper. There's no cruelty like waiting and telling people late into their careers that they don't belong - just when the options are limited and they're putting their children through college or paying off big mortgages.

Good leaders understand that they are stewards. They must find the best people they can, giving them the opportunity to join in the journey developing them, and encouraging them to reach their potential. But they must hold on to people lightly. Those who start with you seldom finish with you.

In my 35 years in the army I was in school for 6 years. I think corporations should take a look at whether they are investing enough in the development of their human capital.

Leadership success is measured by the success of your successor.

Usually, you hire people that you think are wonderful.