Don’t speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn’t walk in their shoes.
DONALD RUMSFELDThink ahead. Don’t let day-to-day operations drive out planning.
More Donald Rumsfeld Quotes
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Agreement can always be reached by increasing the generality of the conclusion; when this is done, the form is generally preserved but only the illusion of policy is created.
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If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.
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Your performance depends on your people. Select the best, train them and back them. When errors occur, give sharper guidance. If errors persist or if the fit feels wrong, help them move on. The country cannot afford amateur hour in the White House.
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Learn to say ‘I don’t know.’ If used when appropriate, it will be often.
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If in doubt, move decisions up to the President.
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Presidential leadership needn’t always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.
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Those who made the decisions with imperfect knowledge will be judged in hindsight by those with considerably more information at their disposal and time for reflection.
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With the press there is no ‘off the record.’
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The way to do well is to do well.
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It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.
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Every day is filled with numerous opportunities for serious error. Enjoy it.
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There are no “knowns.” There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don’t know.
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Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.
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Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.
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If you develop rules, never have more than ten.
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There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that’s just a fact.
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Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn’t exist.
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Everyone’s saying you can’t do anything until you can do everything.
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Reduce the number of lawyers. They are like beavers – they get in the middle of the stream and dam it up.
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Think ahead. Don’t let day-to-day operations drive out planning.
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If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.
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Don’t necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
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First rule of politics: you can’t win unless you’re on the ballot. Second rule: If you run, you may lose. And, if you tie, you do not win.
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Let’s stick something in the ground and not pretend that it’s perfect.
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The price of being close to the President is delivering bad news. You fail him if you don’t tell him the truth. Others won’t do it.
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What you measure improves.” A corollary rule in the military is that “You get what you inspect, not what you expect.
DONALD RUMSFELD