Marvin Bower Quotes

The most frequent cause of failures in business is not people who answered the right questions incorrectly, but people who answered the wrong questions correctly. I have seen many companies “incrementalize” themselves into a corner, through a series of small—what appeared optimal—decisions, often based on erroneous assumptions.

Thus, the top-management approach has these essential characteristics: 1. We make an overall diagnosis before we decide on the specific problems to be solved. 2. We determine the order in which problems should be solved. We try to persuade the client to let us put first things first. 3. In the solution of problems, we take an integrating approach and recognize that: (a) external factors are usually important in the solution of internal problems; (b) very few problems can be solved in any single department or section of the business or government agency.36

Marvin Bower told his protégés that the secret to success was to act successful.