Jeffrey Pfeffer Quotes

#1. Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals is instructive in painting a realistic portrayal of Lincoln and his methods for accomplishing his objectives. In fact, many good political biographies are useful in learning about power, strategy, and decision-making.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#2. I am increasingly convinced that people who have power are not necessarily smarter than others. Beyond a certain level of intelligence and level in the hierarchy, everyone is smart. What differentiates people is their political skill and savvy.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#3. Siebel's business development executive admitted that all of the company's acquisitions have failed and noted that an internal study indicated that "cultural conflicts" were the cause in every case.5

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#4. Knowledge is only useful if you do something with it.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#5. I am not sure any of the material in Leadership BS would be helpful for small companies and certainly not their owners. Of course, even owners have bosses and need to worry about keeping their jobs - so Power might be more appropriate.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#6. Witness Donald Trump's current presidential campaign. So first people need to find the white spaces, the unexploited or underexploited niches where there is less competition and more opportunity.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#7. Systematic research supports the message of these cases. As noted in an article in the New York Times, even in the most extreme circumstances - like the financial crisis - directors bore little consequence for their poor decisions.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#8. Volumes in the series on Lyndon Johnson, including Master of the Senate and The Path Power, describe how Johnson created resources out of nothing and built a substantial power base.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#9. Lyndon Johnson (with Abraham Lincoln close behind). Johnson was able to get things done, to read other people, and to adjust his own approach accordingly. One of the reasons he has so fascinated biographer Robert Caro over the years is Johnson's consummate skill in acquiring and using influence.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#10. Trust is about keeping commitments, but in many instances, circumstances change and organizations therefore shed commitments, things such as retiree medical benefits, pension obligations, and even employees without much remorse or maybe even hesitation.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#11. You can't be normal and expect abnormal returns.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#12. Personal growth and professional development require mostly being treated like an adult, which is pretty much the opposite of what happens in most workplaces. People need to be able to make decisions. To do that effectively, they need information and training in how to use it.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#13. For you?" "A relic," he said. "A what?" "An artifact, Mister Dresden. An antique possessed by the Church for several centuries."

Jim Butcher

#14. She paused, there in the highest of the highlands, where the summer winds have winter on their breath, where they howl and whip and slash the air like knives.

Neil Gaiman

#15. More errors arise from inhibited indecision than from impulsive behavior.

Morris L. Ernst

#16. I personally don't believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending, either one, until we get this economy off the ground. I'll pay more, but it won't solve the problem.

William J. Clinton

#17. Successful organizations understand the importance of implementation, not just strategy, and, moreover, recognize the crucial role of their people in this process.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#18. Even with whatever people want to label me with, there are so many other sides to me.

Wiz Khalifa

#19. We think we are being interesting to others when we are being interesting to ourselves.

Jack Gardner

#20. For instance, even though entrepreneurs in technology often know the statistics that about 80 percent of founders are forced out of their companies by their venture capital investors, I have never heard anyone tell me that this would happen to them. In

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#21. The class focuses intensely on making people more comfortable with doing a wider range of things - such as networking, self-promotion, building their own personal brand, cleverly acquiring resources, getting known - that they may have been less comfortable with before.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#22. In fiction, every treachery and setback appears to serve some end: the characters learn and grow and come into their own. In life, it is not always clear that the hijacking of our plans is quite so provident or benign.

Azar Nafisi

#23. People will envy you to the extent that you start out with a group of people and you rise up the organization faster than them. Get over what your peers are thinking about you because your peers are also your competitors.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#24. overconfident individuals achieved higher social status, respect, and influence in groups.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#25. Leaders are not modest, and more importantly, the extensive social science research on narcissism, self-promotion, and similar constructs shows that these qualities and behaviors are useful for getting hired, achieving promotions, keeping one's job, and obtaining a higher salary.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#26. So, the three qualities of a workplace that would develop people would be information sharing, investing in the training of the workforce, and giving employees the ability to use their training and information to make decisions.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#27. You are more likely to acquire power by narrowing your focus and applying your energies, like the sun's rays, to a limited range of activities in a small number of domains.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#28. Point at solutions instead of at each other.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#29. Your most important task as a leader is to teach people how to think and ask the right questions so that the world doesn't go to hell if you take a day off.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#30. With respect to trust, people tell me that it is essential for organizational functioning. Maybe, but most surveys of trust find that trust in leaders is low and nonetheless, organizations role along quite nicely.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#31. My overall recommendation: for decades corporate policy manuals and HR departments have told people they are responsible for their own careers. It's about time people really heeded those warnings.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#32. The best path to power combines two things: 1) a path that not many are taking and 2) something that you are capable and comfortable with doing.

Jeffrey Pfeffer

#33. Most organisations say they want creativity, but really they do not.

Jeffrey Pfeffer