MARKETPLACE
NEWSLETTER
ROBOCJ'S
PAGE 10. APRIL30, 1975
OP
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hEADERS?
"Does it make any difference who runs what factory as long as that factory turns out
great moneymakers for the industry?" This cold fact was brought to the fore in a state-
ment by one of the men engaged in this industry for many years. There's no disputing
the logic of this remark.
Por the stockholders, it's dividends, stock splits, extras, ever climbing common that
is most impressive. Actually, if the head of a firm vas a robot issuing instructions,
none of the players of the equipment or any of the location owners would ever knov the
difference or even care to knov.
But the industry, itself, needs successful men to point out the proper path. That's
the reason why personalities are important. The press praises these men. In turn, these
men win respect, admiration, high regard for the industry. The human factor, therefore,
remains a very definite, a very important necessity.
Those who have been in an industry for a quarter century or longer can recall names
and faces of people who, first, helped them and, second, who helped all the industry to
grow, to expand, to prosper. This is, then, a necessity - to have personalities that
endea~ themselves and win the adulation of all concerned with the industry.
0 J d auto collectors, for example, talk about old time cars of one make or another,
Stutz, Packard, Pierce Arrow, Deusenberg, etc., etc. Old men of the auto industry talk
about Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, etc., etc. Quote these men. Advise one and all, "They
would've cured this recession, bet me, but quick." Who knows, perhaps they would.
Their industry believed in them. Looked up to them. Followed them. Had faith in their
judg:r:ent and in their decisions. That's what it takes - leadership - to bring back, to
boom up good times again. That's why who heads a firm, especially a successful firm, is
an extremely important person.
•
Yes, ha.rd, cold logic dictates it's the success of the end product - ~he music, the
game, the vender - the.t really counts. The producers a.re faceless, nameless beings to
the general public. The head man, the decision maker, the one who issues the orders,
remains surrounded in an aura of mystery to even most engaged in the industry. Only the
press can bring him forth from a faceless robot to a human being with faults, vith
trepidations, with knowledge, with the qualities of leadership.
So, many times, logic assumes various shapes. But programming the computer, wiring
the robot, is actually the business of a human. It's that human who does so successfully
who becomes the cynosure of all eyes of those engaged in an industry. It is this man,
perhaps fostered and built by the press to a certain degree, who is clothed in the
mantle of leadership. This is what all need - great leadership to make for a great in-
dustry.
;11at do you think?