Pile Work Until Key Men Emerge

“Kaiser baldly proclaimed his managerial philosophy: “You find your key men by piling work on them. They say, ‘I can’t do any more,’ and you say, ‘Sure you can.’ So you pile it on and they’re doing more and more. Pretty soon you have men you can rely on absolutely. You have an organization that can really get things done.” Ambitious executives adopted the boss’s work habits. William Soule, who joined Kaiser in 1941, recalled that it was “a challenge I could not refuse. I was drawn to it as a moth to a lighted candle.” After an exciting but exhausting three-decade career, Soule reflected on those years: “Fortunately, when I was lucky enough to come into that cone of light I was not consumed by the flame. Singed, perhaps, but not consumed.””

“Working for Kaiser was exhilarating and exhausting. Two decades after his death, senior executives still conveyed excitement when recounting the challenges he presented them daily. They remembered constant pressure, a sense of urgency; several fondly savored memories of brief moments of respite, when “the boys” sat around the office with Kaiser late in the evening after a strenuous day and basked in mutual camaraderie. The men who climbed the corporate ladder were tough survivors, a very select group. Kaiser thrived on twenty-hour days, weeks at a stretch, and few could stand his killing pace. Senior managers, to a man, recalled the utter exhaustion they experienced in their thirties and forties trying to keep up with Kaiser even when he was in his seventies. According to his son Edgar, “He got men to do things they never thought they could do.” The survivors patterned themselves after the boss: they lived for their work. There is little mystery behind many victories; Kaiser and his men simply outworked their rivals.”