See that the President, the Cabinet and staff are informed. If cut out of the information flow, their decisions may be poor, not made, or not confidently or persuasively implemented.
If in doubt, move decisions up to the President.
If you try to please everybody, somebody’s not going to like it.
Remember where you came from.
Preserve the President’s options. He may need them.
Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.
Many people around the President have sizeable egos before entering government, some with good reason. Their new positions will do little to moderate their egos.
Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment.
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.
Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned; it was – by a taxpayer.
Don’t blame the boss. He has enough problems.
Don’t think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.
Our task, your task… is to try to connect the dots before something happens. People say, ‘Well, where’s the smoking gun?’ Well, we don’t want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction.
In politics, every day is filled with numerous opportunities for serious error. Enjoy it.
One of your tasks is to separate the “personal” from the “substantive.” The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong.
Be yourself. Follow your instincts. Success depends, at least in part, on the ability to carry it off.
Look for what’s missing. Many advisors can tell a President how to improve what’s proposed or what’s gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn’t there.
Don’t automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn’t considered key aspects of the issue.
You’re thinking of Eurpoe as Germany and France. I don’t. I think that’s old Europe.
Plan backwards as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.
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