James Cash Penney

"In their influential, widely read study, In Search of Excellence, Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr., traced managerial development in several dozen of the “best-run” American corporations. In many examples drawn from the 1960s and 1970s, they observed that the most effective corporate leaders were highly visible and practiced “hands-on,” personal guidance of their operations. 1 Similar examples could have been drawn from Kaiser’s managerial activities decades earlier. Kaiser’s approach to management was hardly original or unique. His respect for his “associates” could have been borrowed from James Cash Penney, founder of the chain stores bearing his name, or from many other astute entrepreneurs. His skill in challenging bright young men to compete with each other might similarly have been patterned after that of Alfred P. Sloan, who created General Motors’ famed “decentralized” system of separate automotive divisions. In refusing to permit important decisions to become trapped by “study” committees, in abhorring bureaucratic red tape, in sensing instinctively who in his organization could provide immediate assistance in a crisis, Kaiser resembled many successful industrial leaders."

"In their influential, widely read study, In Search of Excellence, Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr., traced managerial development in several dozen of the “best-run” American corporations. In many examples drawn from the 1960s and 1970s, they observed that the most effective corporate leaders were highly visible and practiced “hands-on,” personal guidance of their operations.1 Similar examples could have been drawn from Kaiser’s managerial activities decades earlier. Kaiser’s approach to management was hardly original or unique. His respect for his “associates” could have been borrowed from James Cash Penney, founder of the chain stores bearing his name, or from many other astute entrepreneurs. His skill in challenging bright young men to compete with each other might similarly have been patterned after that of Alfred P. Sloan, who created General Motors’ famed “decentralized” system of separate automotive divisions. In refusing to permit important decisions to become trapped by “study” committees, in abhorring bureaucratic red tape, in sensing instinctively who in his organization could provide immediate assistance in a crisis, Kaiser resembled many successful industrial leaders."