Heard and Overheard

Helpful interdisciplinary advice from finance lecturer Sandy Leeds:
“In case you haven’t learned this yet in marketing—if your firm commits fraud, you have to change its name.

Marianne Jennings, a professor of business ethics at Arizona State University, purchased a copy of Enron’s 62-page ethics manual on eBay:
“It arrived untouched by human hands!”

Professor Susan Broniarczyk speaking to her brand management class:
“Who can define fashion for Byron (Racki)?”
Craig Durr, MBA ’05, responds:
“Well, Byron, it’s not what you’re wearing right now.”

Why finance professor Mike Brandl hates it when executives mention that they’re cutomer-focused:
“Really? What a concept...and here I thought you were running the firm just for fun. I hate to be sarcastic, but come on...if you are not focusing on your customer then you should be out of business.”

Frank Fernandez, director of programs at the Austin Community Development Corporation, updates C.S. Lewis for 2005:
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions. So is the road to minimum-security prison."

Professor Eric Hirst, responding to a cell phone ringing during his accounting class:
"I hope that someone is calling you with the answer."

Paul Orfalea, founder and chairman emeritus of Kinko’s, on his unconventional path to success:
”My first good quality is I’m a horrible reader. My second good quality is that I have no mechanical abilities whatsoever. Are there a lot of opportunities for someone who can’t fill out a form or can’t fix things?”

Marc Shapiro, the former vice chairman for finance and risk management at JPMorganChase, on communication:
“People won’t remember unless you say something so often you’re sick of hearing it.”

Ted Gordon, a senior research fellow at the United Nations University, on artificial intelligence:
“Could we invent self-conscious machines? Absolutely. Will they work in our interests? I hope so!”

John Morgridge, the chairman of Cisco Systems, is not exempt from the company’s emphasis on frugality:
“On a trip to New York once, I walked out of the airport and saw a limo driver holding a sign with my name. When I walked up to him, he said, ‘Here’s your subway ticket’ and pointed me in the right direction.”

Ryan Oliver, MBA ’06, writing in Texas Business Weekly:
“I came back to school so that I could buy the biggest, baddest TV known to man… If you came back for a better job or to maximize your business knowledge, then I respect that. But I’m not shy about my motivation.”

Management lecturer Doug Dierking tells students how to get the upper hand in any negotiation:
"Remember—Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them, you're a mile away, and you have their shoes."

Before co-founding AOL, Marc Seriff founded several less successful ventures:
"In three years, [Control Video Corporation] burned through 20 million dollars in venture capital with only 40 thousand dollars in revenue to show for it. And about half of that revenue came from the sale of our hot air balloon."

Paul Anderson, the CEO of Duke Energy, cares about results:
"In the world of business, there are two things: results and reasons. Only your mother cares about reasons."