“Usually there was one person. . . who had the gift. . .”

“One of my special interests is the field of management development. I have made a point of looking into a few organizations in which, in a certain period, there was an unusual flowering of managerial talent.

Usually there was one person, an able manager who had the gift of guiding his understudy so as to help bring latent talent to fruition, to the mature ability to carry heavy responsibility successfully.

The most outstanding developer I know about had at the center of his philosophy the idea that the really important lessons in the managerial art are learned only as the result of error, suffering the consequences of error and learning from the total experience.

This is an important test of maturity: to seek to avoid error, to accept the consequences of error when it comes (as it surely will), and learn from it and to wipe the slate clean and start afresh, free from feelings of guilt.”