Memo

"Indeed, in the early 1960s, the Chief Executive of a world famous group of management consultants tried hard to convince me that it is ideal that top level management executives should have as little knowledge as possible relative to the product...

"...BSA, the early 1960s,... was embarking on  a madness of management consultancy, rather than getting on with the real job of work. It was the disaster of academic business thinking that finally crucified  British industry which was respected throughout the world...

"Far from getting to grips with the realities of life and absorbing a little of our customer attitudes, several of the top brass, in the last two decades of the BSA saga, disliked, if not openly hated, motorcycles.
One of these gentlemen made some very disparaging comments about the two-wheeled world a short time before he graduated to the hot seat...."

Norton Motorcycle

"Most motorcyclists love to spend their Sunday mornings taking off the cylinder head and re-seating the valves."
Donald Heather, director of Norton, 1957.

Quoted by Bert Hopwood in 
Whatever Happened to the British Motorcycle Industry? 

Hopwood was chastised by the director for designing an advanced 250cc engine with one-piece cylinder .