Sam Altman Quotes

The organization of ofices follows the principle of hierarchy ... each lower office is under the control and supervision of a higher one

Delegation of authority is a fact of modern life.

Every executive function, whether superior or subordinate, should be the appointed duty of some given individual. It should be apparent to all the world who did everything, and through whose default anything was left undone. Responsibility is null when nobody knows who is responsible. Nor, even when real, can it be divided without being weakened.

Rather than the President telling someone to do something, I'll tell the guy. If he wants to find out something from somebody, I'll do it.

If you're going to maintain true authorities over a subordinate organization, you have to have some control over policy formulation of that organization and also the resources that are applied to it.

If players know their role it is easier to keep to them.

Any business or club has to have a hierarchy. Everybody needs to know and understand his role in the overall structure. Bayern Munich is no different.

If players know their role, it is easier to keep to them.

Everybody has a corporate structure.

I view the director as my boss. I'm the pawn on the chess board. I don't say something to the director easily, because they are my boss.

As a leader, you have no right to have any employee wonder how they fit in and where they are going.

You don't need to make the structure complicated, in fact you shouldn't. All you need is for every employee to know who their manager 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.

Just media alone is not enough. You have to have organization.

The buck stops with me, but I can tick off dozens of very good senior executives that are responsible for hundreds or thousands of people who work for me.

Governments and entire planets are important, Threepio. But when you sift everything down, they're all just made of people.

Before 20 or 25 employees, most companies are structured with everyone reporting to the founder. It's totally flat.

No one can move without some leadership.

I think that poetry is important when you are shipwrecked, when the ordinary structures that hold you up are gone.

Life is more important than architecture.

An organization's success has more to do with clarity of shared purpose, common principles and strength of belief in them than to assets, expertise, operating ability or management competence, important as they may be.

Statistical projections which speak to the senses without fatiguing the mind, possess the advantage of fixing the attention on a great number of important facts.

It doesn't make much sense and it's nil premium. They're going to have co-CEOs...which is a very uncomfortable structure.

One must confront vague ideas with clear images.

It's important to look people in the eye and have direct conversations. I actually have a rule that if an issue takes more than five sentences to explain it, don't send an email. Pick up the phone instead, because it'll take less time to resolve it.