Despite the absurdity of the idea of taking someone's ready-made case and using it at home, this is exactly what managers do in most cases. This is quite understandable: it is easier to follow the instructions than to take some principles, cubes, and sculpt your own case out of them, taking into account the peculiarities of your company. And most importantly: you don't have to be responsible for the result. If it doesn’t work, then the case is to blame. So there are thousands of articles, posts, videos and speeches about the inefficiency of improving efficiency.
I have not collected quotes for managers - they will continue to act in their own way. The market for “healthy organizations” is too large and attractive to start thinking with your head.
I have collected quotes for us - "globes" on which "an owl is pulled". Most of the books from which the quotes are taken are in the mandatory managerial set. So you can cover them with your own trump cards.
Some quotes are long - I did not want to interrupt the authors, to take the thought out of context.
Jim Collins
An important caveat: there is no “right” value system. No matter what values you choose, there will always be a successful company that relies on completely different principles. To become great, a company does not have to cherish customers (Sony does not) or respect individuality (Disney does not), take quality (WalMart does not) or social responsibility (Ford does not). This was one of the most paradoxical conclusions of “Built Forever”: the core values are essential, but it does not seem to matter what these values will be. The point is not what value system you have, but whether it exists, whether you know it, whether you build your activity based on it, or whether you maintain it over time.
Maintaining a key ideology is the main feature of the great companies that have stood the test of time. The obvious question is: how, while maintaining the principles, to adapt to a changing world? Answer: follow the principle of integrity - maintaining key principles along with stimulating progress.
The great companies that have stood the test of time retain their core values and main meaning, but their strategies and tactics of operational activity adapt to changes in the world endlessly many times. This is the magic combination "keep the essence and stimulate progress."
Source: From Good to Great. Why do some companies make a breakthrough, while others do not ... / Jim Collins; per. from English Pavel Pavlovsky; under the editorship of Vasily Dermanov. - 18th ed. - M .: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2017 .-- 368 p.
Stephen Covey
Exploring the bicentennial history of writings on success, I found one striking thing. Analyzing the problems we face in our family, and similar problems in the lives and relationships of many people with whom I have worked over the years, allowed me to understand that in the past fifty years the literature on achieving success has been superficial. It described the image-building techniques, special quick-acting techniques - a kind of “social aspirin” or “patch” that were proposed to solve the most acute problems. Thanks to these remedies, some problems could for some time lose their severity, however, the deep, chronic foci of the disease remained unaffected, inflamed and made themselves felt again and again.
The exact opposite of what was said was the literature of the first hundred and fifty years. Almost all of it was devoted to a topic that we will call "Ethics of character as the basis of success." Here it was about such personal qualities as integrity of the individual, modesty, loyalty, moderation, courage, justice, patience, hard work, simplicity, as well as adherence to the “golden rule”. An example of such literature is the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Basically, these were stories about how a person worked on himself in order to develop certain principles and skills in himself.
Ethics of character teaches that there are fundamental principles of an effective life and that true happiness can be achieved only by learning to follow these principles.
However, shortly after the end of World War II, the key concept of success shifted from character ethics to personality ethics. Now, success has become seen more as a function of the social image of a person, behavior and actions, skills and techniques that serve as a lubricant in the mechanism of human interaction. Personality ethics has two main directions: the first is the technique of human and social relations, and the second is a positive mental attitude (PMU). This philosophy is reflected to a certain extent in inspiring and wise sayings such as "Your attitude determines your position", "A smile has more friends than a frown" and "A person can achieve what he understands and believes in."
Other areas of the "personal" approach are manifest manipulation and even deception. They encourage you to use special techniques to please other people, or to take a false interest in the hobbies of others in order to extract the information you need from them, or even to demonstrate power and intimidation when it suits your needs.
Sometimes such literature recognizes the importance of character in achieving success, but most often it is considered separately, without assigning it the main role, the role of a catalyst. References to ethics of character in this case are formal, empty words, in reality, the stake is placed on fast-acting techniques of influence, strategy of strength, communication skills and positive thinking.
Source: Seven Skills of Highly Effective People: Powerful Personal Development Tools / Stephen R. Covey; Per. from English. - 11th ed., Add. - M .: Alpina Publisher, 2016 .-- 396 p.
Joseph O'Connor
In the long run, what’s best is one that can adapt on its own, rather than what’s best adapted right now. Having made part of the system super efficient or very fast, you need to understand that this is good only in this context or at a given time. The circumstances are changing. What works well in a certain environment will not fit in as well in a new environment. The price you have to pay to increase adaptation to an existing situation is a loss of flexibility in the face of changing circumstances. When you are best adapted, you are especially vulnerable to change. Each solution creates its own problems. The moment of the highest success is the time when you need to actively think about the next step, the next idea or the next market. Do not try to change, keeping up with the times - ahead of time,or it will dictate you change.
Source: The Art of Systems Thinking: Essential Knowledge of Systems and Creative Problem Solving / Joseph O'Connor and Ian McDermott; per. from English. - 5th ed. - M .: Alpina Publishers, 2011 .-- 254 p. - (Series "The Art of Thinking").
Eliyahu Goldratt
There is a difference between application solutions (applications) and the fundamental concepts on which these solutions are based. Concepts are general, application solutions are the adaptation of concepts to a specific environment. As we have already seen, such an adaptation is not simple and makes it necessary to develop certain elements of the solution. We must remember that an applied solution is based on assumptions (sometimes hidden) about a specific environment. Do not expect this application solution to work in an environment for which the assumptions are wrong. We can save a lot of effort and avoid disappointment if we carefully formulate these initial premises.
Source: Goal: Continuous Improvement Process / E. Goldratt, D. Cox; per. from English E. Fedurko. - 3rd ed. - Minsk: Potpourri, 2016 - 400 p.
Sun Tzu
Military tactics are like water: always avoiding the top and aiming downward. Likewise, in battle one should avoid the strong and attack the weak. The water makes its own course in accordance with the soil on which it flows, and the warrior works its way to victory in accordance with the strength with which it beats. As water has no permanent outline, so in military affairs there are no immutable rules.
A leader who has learned the benefits of flexible tactics knows how to wage war. A commander who has not comprehended the benefits of flexibility cannot master a terrain, even one that is familiar to him.
A warrior who has not mastered the art of changing plans, even if he knows all the benefits, will not be able to control the army. Therefore, a wise strategist always links benefits and losses in his calculations.
Source: The Art of War in Illustrations. The classic treatise of Sun Tzu in charts and graphs / Jessica Hagi; per. from English. Maria Sukhotina. - 2nd ed. - M .: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2016 .-- 264 p.: Ill.
Osho
We reduce everything to "how." The world is dominated by "kakism", and every person, especially a person of a modern, advanced mind, has become a "kaker": how to do this and that? .. how to achieve this or that? .. how to get rich, how to achieve success, how to influence people and win friends, how to meditate? .. - and even: how to love? The day is not far off when another fool will ask how to breathe. And the matter is not at all about "how". Do not reduce life to technology. Reduced to technology, life is deprived of all the scent of joy.
Source: Under the rule of feelings: give free rein to emotions. - SPb .: IG Ves, 2018. - 176 p.