A few of my favorite quotes about performance management:
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Sun Tzŭ c. 490 BC, Chinese military strategist
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter F. Drucker, American Management Guru
The essence of competitiveness is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important – and then get out of their way while they do it.
Jack Welch, former CEO of GE
It is much more difficult to measure non performance than performance.
Harold S. Geneen, former CEO of ITT
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.
Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter, architect & poet
A little risk management saves a lot of fan cleaning.
Mike Harding Roberts (unverified), project management consultant
Any more quotes on performance management that you would like to add?
There’s a Covey quote that’s a good alternative to your Drucker one:
“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”
I lik this one. Not sure who said it though
“Management by objective works – only if you know the objectives.”
Another one attributed to Drucker: “More controls does not mean more control.”
“Any organisation which boasts one Statement of Purpose, one Vision, five Values, six Goals, seven Strategic Priorities and eight Key Performance Indicators without any clear correlation between them is producing a recipe for total confusion and exasperation.”
Learmont Report, October 1995 on the Prison Service
Ria, I’ve never seen that quote before but like it. Do you have a link for it?
Management is just as much about leading as leading others to do what you want them to do… here is a good one.
“There’s no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit”
– Ronald Reagan, CEO USA, 1980 – 1988
I have always liked Michael Porter’s “The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
“If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” Mario Andretti
1) Turn ignition key.
2) Shift into drive.
3) Press foot firmly on the throat of mediocrity.
Source: Mercedes ad
The more you teach positive ideas to others , the better you learn them yourself.
source ; Brian Tracy.
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. —Lao Tzu