The little people will get even, which is one of a thousand reasons why they are not little people at all. If you're a jerk as a leader, you will be torpedoed. And usually it won't be by your vice presidents; it will be on the loading dock at 3am when no supervisors are around.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that those in lower positions hold power by their ability to respond to poor leadership.
Tom Peters emphasizes that even those who seem insignificant or overlooked can have a significant impact on leadership dynamics. Poor leadership can lead to unforeseen consequences, often manifesting in subtle ways when leaders are not paying attention. This serves as a reminder that every individual, regardless of their position, has a role in the overall success of an organization and can influence change.
In practice
In a leadership training workshop to illustrate the importance of treating all employees with respect.
My half-baked reading of history is that we continue to go through these waves of entrepreneurial explosion followed by merger mania and consolidation. Out of that come big sluggish companies that eventually collapse under the weight of what they've created, and are killed off by the next wave of entrepreneurs.
The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.
Nearly 100% of innovation-from business to politics-is inspired not by "market analysis" but by people who are supremely pissed off by the way things are.
Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.
Champions are pioneers, and pioneers get shot at. The companies that get the most from champions, therefore, are those that have rich support network so their pioneers will flourish. This point is so important it's hard to overstress. No support systems, no champions. No champions, no innovations.
If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.
Future generations will judge us _x000D_ not by what we say, but what we do.
Successful organizing is not built on self-interest but rather on dignity and a sense of purpose.
A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.
Leadership that exploits and sacrifices young people on the altar of its goals is nothing more than raw, demonic power. Genuine leadership is found in ceaseless efforts to foster young people, to pave the way forward for them.
We cannot hope, then, in this generation, or for several generations, that the mass of the whites can be brought to assume that close sympathetic and self-sacrificing leadership of the blacks which their present situation so eloquently demands. Such leadership, such social teaching and example, must come from the blacks themselves.
The colonel replied that he didn't care how my men had got the job done. He was happy that it had been accomplished. He said that, obviously, no matter how much or how little I knew technically, I was able to get the best out of people I worked with.
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