Paralysis of leadership is due in part to the unseen grip of the special interests.
John W. GardnerRead
When hiring key employees, there are only two qualities to look for: judgement and taste. Almost everything else can be bought by the yard.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Judgment and taste are the most essential qualities to look for in key employees, as skills can often be acquired later.
In this quote, John W. Gardner emphasizes the importance of inherent qualities such as judgment and taste when hiring for key positions within an organization. He suggests that while many skills and competencies can be learned or purchased, the fundamental ability to make wise decisions (judgment) and have a refined sense of aesthetics or values (taste) are intrinsic traits that are crucial for true leadership and effective teamwork.
Themes
JudgmentTasteLeadershipHiringEmployees
In practice
Example use cases
In a keynote speech about hiring best practices.
More from John W. Gardner
All quotes βMore and more Americans feel threatened by runaway technology, by large-scale organization, by overcrowding. More and more Americans are appalled by the ravages of industrial progress, by the defacement of nature, by man-made ugliness. If our society continues at its present rate to become less livable as it becomes more affluent, we promise all to end up in sumptuous misery.
John W. GardnerRead
Storybook happiness involves every form of pleasant thumb-twiddling; true happiness involves the full use of one's powers and talents.
John W. GardnerRead
Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities. There are quiet leaders and leaders one can hear in the next county. Some find strength in eloquence, some in judgment, some in courage.
John W. GardnerRead
We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.
John W. GardnerRead
I think that all human systems require continuous renewal. They rigidify. They get stuff in the joints. They forget what they cared about. The forces against it are nostalgia and the enormous appeal of having things the way they always have been, appeals to a supposedly happy past. But we've got to move on.
John W. GardnerRead
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