With the open organization community, so that you too can chat, think, and grow with us. Welcome to the conversation—welcome to the journey! September 2016 Dr. Foster is the author of The Open Organization: A New Era of Leadership and Organizational Development. He is a business consultant, international speaker, and the host of Maxi. Up the organization Adjust Share By Robert Townsend, This article is only available as a PDF to subscribers. Download PDF Tags Array More from Robert Townsend Up the organization From the. March 1970 issue Download PDF From the Archive. Timeless stories from our 171-year archive handpicked to speak to the news of the day. Townsend comes from a long line––father, grandfathers and great-grandfathers––of soldiers, American and pre-American. Slavic on his mother's, deep-south redneck on the father's side, his parents managed money poorly and told stories well. Up the Organization by Robert Townsend, unknown edition.
| Born | Robert Chase Townsend July 30, 1920 |
|---|---|
| Died | January 12, 1998 (aged 77) |
| Education | A.B., Princeton '42 |
| Occupation | Author, businessman |
Robert Chase Townsend (July 30, 1920 – January 12, 1998) was an American business executive and author who is noted for transforming Avis into a rental car giant.
Biography[edit]
Townsend was born in Washington, D.C. in 1920. His parents moved to Great Neck, New York where he spent his childhood. After high school, he was accepted to Princeton, graduating in 1942. After graduating from college, he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy, serving for the remainder of World War II.
After the war, he was hired by American Express in 1948. By the time he left the company, he was the senior vice president for investment and international banking. In 1962, Lazard Frères bought Avis, a struggling auto rental company that had never made a profit in its existence. One of the partners, André Meyer, convinced Townsend to leave American Express and become CEO of Avis. Under his direction as president and chairman, the firm became a credible force in the industry, fueled by the 'We Try Harder' advertising campaign (1962–65). Avis also began to have profits, which Townsend credited to Theory Y governance. In 1965, ITT acquired Avis, leading to Townsend's departure as president. After leaving Avis, he became a senior partner of Congressional Monitor in 1969. The company was later renamed Washington Monitor, Leadership Directories (1995-2018), and Leadership Connect (2019-). He wrote the widely acclaimed essay on business management, Up the Organization, which spent 28 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list upon its publication in 1970.[1]
In 1990, Townsend had to have triple bypass surgery. During the late 1990s, he was the chairman of the executive committee of Leadership Directories. On January 12, 1998, he was vacationing in Anguilla. While telling a fishing story on a ketch, he had a massive heart attack leading to his death. Townsend was married to Joan Tours. He had three daughters, executive and attorney Claire Townsend (1952–1995), the actress Jill (b. 1945) and Joan, as well as two sons, Jeffrey and Robert Jr.[2]
Bibliography[edit]
- Townsend, Robert C.; Bennis, Warren (2007). Up the Organization: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN978-0787987756.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- Townsend, Robert C. (1988). Further Up the Organization. HarperCollins. ISBN978-0060971366.
References[edit]
- ^'Robert Townsend'. Pearson PLC. Retrieved November 7, 2008.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^Pace, Eric (January 14, 1998). 'Robert Townsend, 77, Dies; Wrote 'Up the Organization''. The New York Times.
External links[edit]
- Robert Townsend at Find a Grave
- Portrait of Robert Townsend, 1970.Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
The sub-title of this book sums it up pretty well: How to stop the corporation from stifling people and strangling profits. The ideas here are irreverent, humorous, and most of all, relevant. Creativity. Initiative. Boldness. These are the qualities that most professionals wish their employees and peers possessed. But too often, these same professionals never realize that it is the company or organization itself that stifles these important qualities.
This book challenges readers to humanize the business by bringing out the best in the people they work with by getting out of their way.
“Most people in big companies today are administered, not led. They are treated as personnel, not people.”
As long as companies treat employees as commodities instead of assets, progressive thinking and creativity will never happen. For employees to feel like they have a purpose, they need a leader who cares. For employees to feel like their contributions are appreciated, they need a leader who is involved and gives feedback. What employees DON'T need is administrators that simply police and regulate.
“If people are coming to work excited. . . if they're making mistakes freely and fearlessly. . . if they're having fun. . . if they're concentrating on doing things rather than preparing reports and going to meetings-then somewhere you have leaders.”
Too often, leaders and managers are so afraid to let go of the reigns, even for a moment. They seem to think that controlling people is the same as controlling the business, but it's simply not true. Only when a manager can create an atmosphere of creativity without judgment will employees find enthusiasm in their work. Employees want to work, and they want to contribute. They don't want their manager holding their hand or standing over their shoulder. Sometimes the best thing a leader can do is to just get out of the way.
“Managers must have the discipline not to keep pulling up the flowers to see if their roots are healthy.”
Up The Organization Pdf Download
If an employee is performing their job well, why go digging? Some managers feel like they have to have to have their hands in everything, even when everything is going well. In the end, an employee's behaviors and results are all that really matters. Why someone does what they do, what they are thinking when they do it, and other underlying factors just aren't important when the results are there.
If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it.
'Top management is supposed to be a tree full of owls-hooting when management heads into the wrong part of the forest. I'm still unpersuaded they even know where the forest is.”
Up The Organization By Robert Townsend Pdf Free Pdf
Real leaders have to be involved, and they have to understand what their employees deal with on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, the higher the level of management or leadership, the more out of touch leaders seem to be. If employees don't have a connection with senior leaders and their vision, how can they be expected to connect with the vision of the company?