Unless there are two horseshoe quotes, this one seems to be disputed:
MichaelGR
Karma: 1,878
One of the most serious problems with modern “management” is that the incentives are all wrong. Imagine that I hire a programmer and pay him by the line of code. This idea has been so thoroughly debunked that it is nearly impossible to write out the consequences without sounding cliché. Yet it happens all the time: Companies promote “Architects” who are evaluated by the weight of their “architecture.” The result is stultifying and demoralizing. The architect does not work to facilitate the programmer’s work, he works to produce evidence of his contribution in the form of frameworks, standards, and software process.
So, how are most managers evaluated? By the amount of “managing” they do, as measured by the amount of process they impose on their team. Evaluating a manager by the amount of managing they do is exactly the same thing as evaluating a programmer by the amount of code they write. And it produces results like you describe, where the manager works to produce evidence of their management in the form of processes and decisions from the top down, rather than facilitating the work actually being done.
-raganwald, HN, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2423236
One perennial problem is the overwhelming incentive for analysts to issue “Buy” recommendations. The universe of stocks not owned by a customer is always much larger than the list of those currently owned. Consequently, it’s much easier to generate commissions from new “Buy” recommendations than from recommendations to sell.
-Joel Greenblatt
It can be that, but I think it also illustrate the importance of understanding people’s real goals and intentions and not assuming that they are what they appear to be at first glance.
“At one of our dinners, Milton recalled traveling to an Asian country in the 1960s and visiting a worksite where a new canal was being built. He was shocked to see that, instead of modern tractors and earth movers, the workers had shovels. He asked why there were so few machines. The government bureaucrat explained: “You don’t understand. This is a jobs program.” To which Milton replied: “Oh, I thought you were trying to build a canal. If it’s jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels.”
-Milton Friedman story
“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war.”
--WSJ article about Navy SEALs
The way to maximize outcome is to concentrate on the process.
-Seth Klarman, letter to shareholders
I’d love to go, but I’m repainting our new apartment on that day and we already have people coming over to help so it’s very hard to reschedule. I’ll definitely be there the next time if it’s announced long enough in advance. Thank you for taking the initiative!
Very cool of you. At least one person noticed!
Thank you.
Goes to show that nothing goes away on the internet; I posted the parent comment 2 years ago.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain
It has never mattered to me that thirty million people might think I’m wrong. The number of people who thought Hitler was right did not make him right… Why do you necessarily have to be wrong just because a few million people think you are?
-- Frank Zappa, quoted from The Real Frank Zappa Book
Life is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid.
-John Wayne, Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
The Company that needs a new machine tool is already paying for it.
-old Warner & Swasey ad
Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself.
-Chinese proverb
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
-Mark Twain
I’ve added it to my list. I’m currently reading Poor Charlie’s Almanack and liking it a lot so far.
The best business book I’ve read is probably The Essays of Warren Buffett (second ed.), but it’s certainly not exhaustive in what it covers.
Update: I’ve got my copy from Amazon.ca (really fast shipping − 2 days). Will probably have a chance to read it in February.
That’s a good question. If I had to guess, I would say that most people used to be familiar with the domestic turkey that is being fattened for thanksgiving dinner (or whatever), and those probably can’t fly very well, if at all.
In a strong enough wind, even turkeys can fly.
-Saying of investors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window