Page 206 - The Way to the Top

Preston Robert TISCH

Co-Chairman of Loews Corporation and Chairman and Co-CEO of New
York Football Giants

Since my brother and I started working in a family business, we learned as
we went along.

We found that communications—keeping an open flow of ideas in an
atmosphere of absolute candor—is most important to successfully manage
people. There are few impediments to good management more serious
than the universal human tendency to conceal or ignore negative
information. Our goal has always been to develop mutual trust and a

feeling of confidence among our employees, which would enable them to
feel comfortable sharing the negative as well as the positive information
with us immediately.

We believe it is the first responsibility of corporate management to

establish and maintain an atmosphere that invites maximum response
from the employees. You cannot command people to be resourceful and
imaginative—and yet, those are the qualities we need most in operating
management. We need to develop people who have the confidence and

courage to act effectively and decisively on their own—managers who go
way beyond what they are told, who act on their own sense of what can be
accomplished. Motivating and involving employees is essential to
building a successful business.

Encourage and involve employees