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Presidential leadership needn’t always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.

Donald Rumsfeld

If we know anything, it is that weakness is provocative.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Knowledge Weakness
Learn to say ‘I don’t know.’ If used when appropriate, it will be often.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Appropriate Learn Often
Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Improvement Performance President Value Wonder
Amidst all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work towards those goals.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Goals Head Obstacle Work
If you try to please everybody, somebody’s not going to like it.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Please Try
Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Criticism Publicity Receive
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.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Decision Government Imperfection Knowledge Politics Reflection War
If it were a fact, it wouldn’t be called intelligence.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Fact Intelligence
Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Dangerous Error Lack Margin
Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Argument Convenience Inevitable Integrity
Prune – prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Activity Business People Product
With the press there is no ‘off the record.’
DONALD RUMSFELD

Media Record
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.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Deep Philosophy
Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Death Encouragement Tendency War
Don’t speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn’t walk in their shoes.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Ill Shoes Speak Success Walk
Let’s stick something in the ground and not pretend that it’s perfect.
DONALD RUMSFELD

Ground Perfection Pretend

Presidential leadership needn’t always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.

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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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