Larry’s Column

Last week I came across a profound quote by Robert Townsend, former CEO of Avis Rent-a-Car and author of the 1970 best seller, “Up the Organization.” He said, “When you get right down to it, one of the most important tasks of a manager is to eliminate his people’s excuses for failure.”

How insightful, how meaningful, how true, and perhaps most important, how courageous. Townsend knew that managing is not just throwing a task at someone and waiting for the results. “Eliminating excuses for failure” requires proactive planning. It takes defining the task, helping the person determine the action steps necessary to complete the task successfully, discovering and finding needed resources, advising from experience and expertise, monitoring progress, being an active cheerleader, removing pitfalls, and giving credit when the work is accomplished. All along the way, the successful manager is eliminating excuses for failure. Read more

I bet you couldn’t have seen a more unique site on the net. Imagine having real shares of stocks in publicly traded companies in certificate form. Didn’t find that good enough? Ok then there is more for you. What if I told you that the value of this could also increase overtime. Sounds interesting right. Read more