Best Quotes by Donald Rumsfeld (Top 10)
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Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
Donald Rumsfeld
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If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.
Donald Rumsfeld
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In our system leadership is by consent, not command. To lead a President must persuade. Personal contacts and experiences help shape his thinking. They can be critical to his persuasiveness and thus to his leadership.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Don't speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn't walk in their shoes.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Success tends to go not to the person who is error-free, because he also tends to be risk-averse. Rather it goes to the person who recognizes that life is pretty much a percentage business. It isn't making mistakes that's critical; it's correcting them and getting on with the principal task.
Donald Rumsfeld
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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.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning.
Donald Rumsfeld
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If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.
Donald Rumsfeld
More Donald Rumsfeld Quotes
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Don't blame the boss. He has enough problems.
Donald Rumsfeld
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You will launch many projects, but have time to finish only a few. So think, plan, develop, launch and tap good people to be responsible. Give them authority and hold them accountable. Trying to do too much yourself creates a bottleneck.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Strive to make proposed solutions as self-executing as possible. As the degree of discretion increases, so too does bureaucracy, delay, and expense.
Donald Rumsfeld
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You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Control your time. If you're working off your in-box, you're working off the priorities of others. Be sure the staff is working on what you move to them from the President, or the President will be reacting, not leading.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Move decisions out to the Cabinet and agencies. Strengthen them by moving responsibility, authority, and accountability their direction.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Keep your sense of humor. As General Joe Stillwell said, 'The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind'.
Donald Rumsfeld
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When starting at the bottom, be willing to learn from those at the top.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.
Donald Rumsfeld