Rader's Rules
Dr. Louis T. Rader was the GM of GE's operations in Waynesboro during 1951-59 and during 1964-69 was VP and GM of the Industrial Process Control Division, which included the tele-communications businesses in Lynchburg. Post GE, he was an EE professor at UVA from 1969 to 1982, and concurrently was a professor, Darden Graduate Business School, UVA. Dr. Rader's son, Jack, was an engineer with MRD for a time.
His Rader's Rules were well known to Lynchburg managers during the 1960s. Here they are, taken direcctly from, "Plain Talk to Young Executives," a 1977 book he co-authored with fellow Darden School professor, Paul Hammaker.
1. Never run out of money or credit.
2. The sum of all costs should be less than the amount of money received from the customer.
3. You can’t sell the second if you can’t sell the first.
4. When the quarterback says go around left end, you go around left end.
5. It doesn't matter how good your calculus is if your arithmetic is no good.
6. Anybody off the street can run a business at a loss.
7. Statistics are for losers.
8. If you don’t get the facts, the facts will get you.
