Management by Suggestion Not Order

“One, he had a style, he had a style all his own. I’ve never seen the like of it in all my life. I must have heard him, but I can’t recall an example of him ever giving me a direct order, “Harrison, here’s what I want you to do on Thursday. Go down and see Jack and do this, this, this and this.” Maybe it happened, probably happened, but I can’t recall it. Mr Irving ran the business with his top people by suggestion. His style. He’d make a suggestion that if we had such-and-such an account, that would fit in just exactly what our expenses and our business plans in buying this flat area, and that would be the cornerstone for a new location. And if we got that, that would convince me that we should go ahead and spend the money and get the damn thing going. If we could just find some- body that could just talk the fellows into swinging that damn deal around. And what that meant was, get your ass out there and get that account.16”

“of the McCain family, believe me.” Harrison and Wallace also learned management by doing, by try- ing this and that, and by sharing information freely. They had no for- mal training, no management school training, and certainly no MBA degree. What they knew about management they had learned from K.C. Irving. Like him, they would lead by example, put in long hours, improvise when necessary, look a few years down the road, manage by suggestion, and give wide flexibility to their managers and staff to operate the way they saw fit. Harrison was never one to draft a memo when a phone call or a brief visit would do. They hired competent staff, no small feat in Florenceville, far from”