Harrington Emerson

1853–1931 · American efficiency engineer & management consultant

Harrington Emerson was an American efficiency engineer and a pioneer of the scientific-management movement. His 1910 testimony to the Interstate Commerce Commission — that the railroads could save a million dollars a day through efficiency — sparked a national craze for the subject. His book The Twelve Principles of Efficiency (1912) argued that a handful of principles, not an endless catalog of methods, is what makes work effective — the very idea behind this quotation.

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“The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble”

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