“Some of the biggest bores I've ever known are men who have been highly successful in business, particularly self-made heads of big companies. Before the first olive has settled into the first martini, they pour the stories of their lives into the nearest and sometimes the remotest ears capturable.... These men have indeed paid the price of success. To rise to the top of a big company often takes a totality of effort, concentration and dedication. Others, too, have to pay part of the price. Wife and children are out of mind even when in sight.” MenMindFirstsChildrenHas BeensMadeSelfSometimesStoriesBigsEffortPayCompanyKnownSuccessfulWifeEarsSightPaidBoredomConcentrationDedicationBoresTotalityOlivesSelf MadeMartiniBig CompaniesPrice Of Success Author:Malcolm Forbes
“For corporations to be bedfellows with the arts is good business for both. The architecture that houses a company is a more visible statement than the president's in the annual report. Ditto interiors, particularly of offices and sometimes, dramatically, in plants. For solvent businesses, support of community cultural undertakings in music, drama, dance creates great goodwill. Also, the existence of such activities is often important to the executives and their families that companies want to keep or attract to keep.” WantArtImportantSometimesCultureHousePresidentCommunityExistenceCompanySupportDramaActivityOfficeArt IsPlantArchitectureStatementsCorporationsVisibleReportsExecutivesInteriorsGoodwillUndertakingsAnnualsGood BusinessBedfellowsAnnual Reports Author:Malcolm Forbes
“The top people of the biggest companies are, surprisingly, often the nicest ones in their company I'm not sure, though, if they got there because they were good guys or that they're now good guys because they can afford to be.” PeopleIfsGuyCompanyNot SureExecutivesGood Guy Author:Malcolm Forbes
“There's one post-Christmas chore I love-writing thank-you letters.... Lots of companies for many reasonable reasons, I guess, have a policy against sending even Christmas cards, never mind things, at Christmastime. But our clan gets a big kick out of opening the Warner-Lambert box containing an assortment of their wares; we argue over which of the boys is to get the Union Oil Co. necktie [and] all the holiday long we play the marvelous Christmas music sent by Goodyear.... None of these things means that Forbes or Forbeses have been had. But all of us like being thought of.” WritingMindMeanLongHas BeensReasonPlayBigsCompanyBoysPolicyLettersUnionsBoxesOilArguingOpeningCardsPostsKicksReasonableHolidayMarvelousChoresContainingClansForbesChristmas CardNecktiesChristmas Music Author:Malcolm Forbes
“There are a handful of companies who understand all successful business operations come down to three basic principles; People---Product---Profit. Without top people, you cannot do much with the other two.” PeopleTwoThreeCompanyPrinciplesSuccessfulProductsProfitOperationsHandfulSuccessful BusinessBasic Principles Author:Malcolm Forbes
“I hope a start at getting some oil out of the enormous Alaska field isn't indefinitely mired in a bureaucratic morass as a result of our national concern for the ecology. This concern must not be so misguided, misdirected, misused that it serves to stop economic growth, to bankrupt companies, to stifle new development, new jobs, new horizons. In fighting new pollution and stemming present pollution, exciting, sometimes costly means and methods exist and others will evolve. But blanket legislative naysaying to expanding power and energy sources is stupid, self-defeating.” MeanSelfSometimesJobsFightingEnergyGrowthNatureResultsCompanyEconomicStupidFieldsSourceDevelopmentConcernExcitingMethodOilEnormousEvolveHorizonPollutionEcologyExpandingEconomic GrowthBlanketAlaskaMisguidedNew JobEnergy SourcesMisusedNew Horizons Author:Malcolm Forbes
“There is just no way any management with any intelligence and foresight cannot recognize the value of a corporate image. It is the best, single marketable investment that a company can make.” WayValuesCompanyManagementInvestmentCorporateSingleForesight Author:Malcolm Forbes