"More business is lost every year through neglect than through any other cause"
About this Quote
“Neglect” is a brutal word because it sounds passive, even harmless, while quietly describing a decision: to let the basics rot. Rose Kennedy’s line lands like a scolding delivered in a silk glove. It isn’t a romantic ode to hustle; it’s a warning about entropy. Businesses don’t usually die from dramatic villains. They die from unanswered calls, unreturned emails, sloppy follow-through, the client you meant to check on, the invoice you forgot to send, the talent you failed to retain. Neglect is the slow leak you ignore because it’s not yet a flood.
The intent is managerial and moral at once. Kennedy reframes “loss” away from the glamorous causes executives like to cite - competition, disruption, bad luck - and pins it to something humiliatingly controllable: attention. The subtext is an indictment of ego. People prefer to believe they were outmaneuvered than admit they were careless. Neglect lets you keep your self-image intact while the market quietly collects the penalty.
Context matters here: Kennedy lived through the Great Depression, war years, and the rise of modern American consumer culture, where reputations and relationships became scalable assets. In that world, consistency is strategy. Her sentence reads like family doctrine from a dynasty built on networks, routine, and the unsexy work of maintenance. It also anticipates today’s service economy, where “business” is often just trust in motion. Neglect breaks trust without a single headline, which is exactly why it’s so expensive.
The intent is managerial and moral at once. Kennedy reframes “loss” away from the glamorous causes executives like to cite - competition, disruption, bad luck - and pins it to something humiliatingly controllable: attention. The subtext is an indictment of ego. People prefer to believe they were outmaneuvered than admit they were careless. Neglect lets you keep your self-image intact while the market quietly collects the penalty.
Context matters here: Kennedy lived through the Great Depression, war years, and the rise of modern American consumer culture, where reputations and relationships became scalable assets. In that world, consistency is strategy. Her sentence reads like family doctrine from a dynasty built on networks, routine, and the unsexy work of maintenance. It also anticipates today’s service economy, where “business” is often just trust in motion. Neglect breaks trust without a single headline, which is exactly why it’s so expensive.
Quote Details
| Topic | Customer Service |
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