Donald Rumsfeld

I don’t do quagmires.

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the Department for the Commander-in-Chief and the country.

Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive.

Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small.

Don’t say “the White House wants.” Buildings can’t want.

Preserve the President’s options. He may need them.

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.

It’s easy to demonise people, you’re usually wrong about it, people are nicer than you think.

In real life, if I were firing you, I’d tell you what a great job you did, how fantastic you are, and how you can do better someplace else. If somebody steals, that’s different, but generally speaking, you want to let them down as lightly as possible. It’s not a very pleasant thing. I don’t like firing people.

If you wouldn’t follow yourself, why should anyone else?

A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.

Respect people with less power then you. I don’t care if you’re the most powerful cat in the room, I will judge you on how you treat the least powerful. So there.

If you aspire to be a leader of your own country, you must speak your own language, for God’s sake.

The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

Leaders, true leaders, take responsibility for the success of the team, and understand that they must also take responsibility for the failure.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

The art of leadership is a serious matter. One must not lag behind a movement, because to do so is to become isolated from the masses. But one must not rush ahead, for to rush ahead is to lose contact with the masses. He who wished to lead a movement must conduct a fight on two fronts–against those who lag behind and those who rush ahead.

A great leader has to be flexible, holding his ground on the major principles but finding room for compromises that can bring people together. A great leader has to be savvy at negotiations so we don’t drown every bill in pork barrel bridges to nowhere. I know how to stand my ground – but I also know that Republicans and Democrats need to find common ground to stand on as well.

I feel like the thing we can do is celebrate people doing great work and create more cultural momentum and awareness that this is an important thing in the world. So when the next economic crisis hits and people are talking about where to cut from the budget, science isn’t the thing.

You do your job, you keep your job. Do it well, you get a better job.

The best leaders are humble enough to realize their victories depend upon their people.