Thomas J. Watson Quotes on Man (19 Quotes)

Watson himself said that when he was able to develop loyalty in men, ability followed. 'Joining a company is an act that calls for absolute loyalty in big matters and little ones,' he declared. Criticism, if necessary at all, was permitted only to superiors.

It cant be done, engineers might tell him. It has to be done, Watson would order, and often it could be. With this approach Watson brought out the best in his menin his engineers, for example. He believed that engineering, like salesmanship, depended not only on laws but on will. For him the first principle of science, as well as the first principle of the world of men, was enthusiasm. Build it, he would order his engineers arbitrarily. And when they did, the machine often seemed to be a triumph of Dale Carnegie over Newton.

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.

The greatest asset of a man, a business or a nation is faith. The men who built this country and those who made it prosper during its darkest days were men whose faith in its future was unshakable. Men of courage, they dared to go forward despite all hazards men of vision, they always looked forward, never backward. Christianity, the greatest institution humanity has ever known, was founded by twelve men, limited in education, limited in resources, but with an abundance of faith and divine leadership. The vision essential to clear thinking the common sense needed for wise decisions the courage of convictions based on facts not fancies and the constructive spirit of faith as opposed to the destructive forces of doubt will preserve our Christian ways of life.

There is very little difference between the general manager, the sales manager, the factory manager, the office manager, the factory man, the office man and the salesman. We have different ideas and different work, but when you come down to it, there is j.

To the salesmen, Watson preached individuality and conservatism at the same time Some men think that personality can be acquired by wearing unusual clothes or by saying something unusual. That is where many young men are wrong. Present your proposition in your own natural way, always keeping your personality behind your product.

A manager is an assistant to his men.

Point out to the men working with you and around you that we forgive thoughtful mistakes that it is only the thoughtless mistakes that cause trouble. Tell them first to be sure they have thought about each proposition, then to go ahead.

We are willing to spend any reasonable amount of money on education in our organization, because we have a group of men and women in our business who are constantly seeking knowledge, knowing that is the way to make themselves more valuable to the company and, automatically, more valuable to themselves. We are working out a plan that is going to take in everybody in the organization. We are going to have post graduate schools for our men in the field, and post graduate schools for our executivesand many of them.

If a man goes to work in the right spirit, work is no hardship.

All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to think. The trouble is that men very often resort to all sorts of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such hard work.

The great accomplishments of man have resulted from the transmission of ideas and enthusiasm.

'If you are loyal you are successful,' ruminated the company paper at one time. 'All useful work is raised to the plane of art when love for the taskloyaltyis fused with the effort. Loyalty is the great lubricant of life. It saves the wear and tear of making daily decisions as to what is best to do. The man who is loyal to his work is not wrung nor perplexed by doubts, he sticks to the ship, and if the ship founders he goes down like a hero with colors flying at the masthead and the band playing.'

The man who bases his actions on independent thought who reflects and considers before doing anything, and whose judgments are arrived at through logic, is the man who will go farthest today.

Time is the substance of life and recording it, the most important thing with which a man has to deal.

The success of every major executive depends on the men under him. Really successful men are pushed up, not pulled up.

A tribute, published October 22, 1931, to Thomas Alva Edison upon his death THE passing of Thomas Alva Edison serves to direct our attention to the multitude of benefactions he bestowed upon all humanity during his many years of fruitful activity. It reminds us of the debt of gratitude we owe him as members of the human race. By his achievements, he laid the foundation for continued and greater development. His persistent efforts and indefatigable spirit multiplied many times the valuable opportunities for man, especially the young man. To each and every young man, Mr. Edison left a legacy of opportunities.

What we do with our leisure time has considerable bearing on what we accomplish during our working hours, and very largely determines the degree of our success, Young men who, like yourselves, devote a predetermined amount of their leisure hours to study and to serious thinking, are the men who are going to progress far and fast. The business leaders of tomorrow will be the young men of todaymen like you who are preparing now for the great future which lies ahead. You may view the future with confidence, knowing that from the youth of today will emerge the leaders of tomorrow.

All great questions of politics and economics come down in the last analysis to the decisions and actions of individual men and women. They are questions of human relations, and we ought always to think about them in terms of men and womenthe individual human beings who are involved in them. If we can get human relations on a proper basis, the statistics, finance and all other complicated technical aspects of these questions will be easier to solve.