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Our Failure Was That Our Intelligence Community Thought [saddam Hussein ] Had Stockpiled Weapons Of Mass Destruction. That Was A Mistake. There Is Fallibility In Human Intelligence And In Human Decisions.

-Colin Powell

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Our Failure Was That

Colin Powell

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Our Failure Was That Our Intelligence Community Thought [saddam Hussein ] Had Stockpiled Weapons Of Mass Destruction. That Was A Mistake. There Is Fallibility In Human Intelligence And In Human Decisions.

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Mass Destruction

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Poverty Arises And Persists Where Corruption Is Endemic And Enterprise Is Stifled, Where Basic Fairness Provided By The Rule Of Law Is Absent. In Such Circumstances, Poverty Is An Assault Against Human Dignity, And In That Assault Lies The Natural Seed Of Human Anger

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You Have Achieved Excellence As A Leader When People Will Follow You Anywhere If Only Out Of Curiosity.

You Can't Just Have Slogans, You Can't Just Have Catchy Phrases. You Have To Have An Agenda. And I Think What The Republican Party Has To Do, If It's Going To Incorporate The Tea Party Efforts In It, Is To Come Up With An Agenda That The American People Can See, Touch, And Actually Believe In, And Something They Believe In.

I Served 40 Years In Government, And I'm Not Looking Forward To A Position Or An Assignment. Of Course, I Have Always Said If A President Asks You To Do Something, You Have To Consider It. But I Am In No Way Interested In Returning To Government. But I, Of Course, Would Sit And Talk To Any President Who Wishes To Talk To Me.

It's Nice To Say Let's Be Bipartisan. But We're A Partisan Nation. We Were Raised As A Partisan Nation.

I Want To Scare The Hell Out Of The Rest Of The World.

1. It Ain't As Bad As You Think. It Will Look Better In The Morning. 2. Get Mad, Then Get Over It. 3. Avoid Having Your Ego So Close To Your Position That When Your Position Falls, Your Ego Goes With It. 4. It Can Be Done! 5. Be Careful What You Choose. You May Get It. 6. Don't Let Adverse Facts Stand In The Way Of A Good Decision. 7. You Can't Make Someone Else's Choices. You Shouldn't Let Someone Else Make Yours. 8. Check Small Things. 9. Share Credit. 10. Remain Calm. Be Kind.

Keep Looking Below Surface Appearances. Don't Shrink From Doing So Just Because You Might Not Like What You Find.

I Think Whether You're Having Setbacks Or Not, The Role Of A Leader Is To Always Display A Winning Attitude.

Always Show More Kindness Than Seems Necessary, Because The Person Receiving It Needs It More Than You Will Ever Know.

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You Have To Comply, You Have To Obey - Or You'd Better Resign And Leave. But That Is Also The Mark Of A Great Leader - Somebody Who, In The Presence Of Inner Conflict, Will Do The Right Thing.

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Leaders Honor Their Core Values, But They Are Flexible In How They Execute Them.

Don't Just Show Kindness In Passing Or To Be Courteous. Show It In Depth, Show It With Passion, And Expect Nothing In Return. Kindness Is Not Just About Being Nice; It's About Recognizing Another Human Being Who Deserves Care And Respect.

Change Of Regime With Respect To Iraq Had Nothing To Do With This; It Had Everything To Do With The Fact That Iraq Had Weapons Of Mass Destruction. And At The Time Change In Regime As A Policy Came Into Effect In 1998, It Was Seen As The Only Way To Compel Iraq To Get Rid Of Its Weapons Of Mass Destruction.

Mass Destruction

We Have To Be On Guard That We Don't Spend So Much Time Worrying About Terrorism And Guarding Ourselves That We Start To Lose The Essence Of Who We Are As An Open, Freedom-loving People, Welcoming To The Rest Of The World.

Good And Solid Analysis And A Formal Way Of Looking At A Problem [are The Core Ingredients Of Good Decisions].

All Nations That Are Civilized And Do Not Accept This Kind Of Action As Representing Any Sort Of Legitimate Political Cause Are Coming Together To Fight These Terrorists.

In My 35 Years In The Army I Was In School For 6 Years. I Think Corporations Should Take A Look At Whether They Are Investing Enough In The Development Of Their Human Capital.

Have A Vision; But It's Not Enough To Have A Vision, You Have To Communicate That Vision To Others. You Have To Communicate It To People Who Work With You And For You. You Have To Communicate It To The World Leaders With Whom You Come In Touch.

It Was Not The United States Who Invaded Kuwait; It Was Iraq. It Was Not The United States That Went To War With Iran; It Was Iraq. It Was Not The United States That Fired Chemical Weapons At Iran; It Was Iraq. And It Was Not The United States That Murdered Innocent Iraqi Citizens With Chemical Weapons; It Was Iraq.

I'm An American, First And Foremost, And I'm Very Proud - I Said, I've Said To My Beloved Friend And Colleague John Mccain, A Friend Of 25 Years, "john, I Love You, But I'm Not Just Going To Vote For You On The Basis Of Our Affection Or Friendship." And I've Said To Barack Obama, "i Admire You. I'll Give You All The Advice I Can. But I'm Not Going To Vote For You Just Because You're Black." We Have To Move Beyond This.

In The Army We Are Drilled Into Execution And Then Supervision, To Make Sure Everything Goes The Way You Planned It. But There Is Another Thing That We Do In The Military, That I Think Perhaps Isn't Done Enough In Corporate Life: As Soon As You Have Made That Decision, You Start On The Contingency Planning. Because There Is, As We Like To Say, A Thinking, Breathing Enemy Out There, Who Is Not Going To Let You Do Just What You Want.

I Have Always Tried To Do My Job In A Way That I Have People Give Me Different Points Of View.

President Reagan Fueled The Spirit Of America. His Smile, His Optimism, His Total Belief In The Ultimate Triumph Of Democracy And Freedom, And His Willingness To Act On That Belief, Helped End The Cold War And Usher In A New And Brighter Phase Of History.

It Is Not The Role Of The United States To Dictate Change, But To Enter Into Discussions With Our Friends.

Diplomacy Never Stops, And, With Or Without An Election, It Never Stops.

Trying To Get Everyone To Like You Is A Sign Of Mediocrity.

One Of The Fondest Expressions Around Is That We Can't Be The World's Policeman. But Guess Who Gets Called When Suddenly Someone Needs A Cop.

I Think The American People Want To See What We Want To See, And That Is For The Iraqi People To Have A Free, Open, Fair Election, For Their Forces To Be Built Up, For Our Reconstruction Money To Be Used Well, And For Iraqi Security Forces To Take Over So We Can Start Bringing Our Troops Home.

The United States Is Not Stingy. We Are The Greatest Contributor To International Relief Efforts In The World.

90 Percent Of My Time Is Spent On 10 Percent Of The World.

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I Can Think Of Nothing That Saddam Hussein Can Do Diplomatically (to Avoid War). I Think That Time Is Now Over. He's Had His Chance, He Has Had Many Chances Over The Last 12 Years And He Has Blown Every One Of Those Chances.

We Are Not Dictating. We Are Not Telling Them [saudi Arabia] How They Should Do It Or Who They Should Look Like. We Are Their Friends. We Have Mutual Interests And We Will Help Them In Any Way That Is Possible.

Mutual Interest

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Being Kind Doesn't Mean Being Soft Or A Wuss. Kindness Is Not A Sign Of Weakness. It Is A Sign Of Confidence. If You Have Developed A Reputation For Kindness And Consideration, Then Even The Most Unpleasant Decisions Will Go Down Easier Because Everyone Will Understand Why You Are Doing What You Are Doing. They Will Realize That Your Decision Must Be Necessary, And Is Not Arbitrary Or Without Empathy. As The Old Saying Puts It, 'to The World, You May Be One Person, But To One Person You May Be The World.'

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Don't Take Counsel Of Your Fears Or Naysayers.

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Life Experience

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Strategy Equals Execution. All The Great Ideas And Visions In The World Are Worthless If They Can't Be Implemented Rapidly And Efficiently. Good Leaders Delegate And Empower Others Liberally, But They Pay Attention To Details, Every Day.

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The Media Only Report Stupid Or Careless Answers, Not Stupid Or Unfair Questions.

Always Be Looking For The Opportunities, And Always Be Optimistic About What You Can Do With That Opportunity.

Being Optimistic

The Chief Condition On Which, Life, Health And Vigor Depend On, Is Action. It Is By Action That An Organism Develops Its Faculties, Increases Its Energy, And Attains The Fulfillment Of Its Destiny.

I Think Leadership Is Both A Trained Thing And A Natural Gift.

Be Careful What You Choose: You May Get It.

I Can't Deny That It Will Be A Historic Event For An African-american To Become President. And Should That Happen, All Americans Should Be Proud - Not Just African-americans, But All Americans - That We Have Reached This Point In Our National History Where Such A Thing Could Happen. It Will Also Not Only Electrify Our Country, I Think It'll Electrify The World.

African American

My Two Jamaican Cousins ... Were Studying Engineering. 'that's Where The Money Is,' Mom Advised. ... I Was To Be An Engineering Major, Despite My Allergy To Science And Math. ... Those Who Preceded Me At Ccny Include The Polio Vaccine Discoverer, Dr. Jonas Salk ... And Eight Nobel Prize Winners. ... In Class, I Stumbled Through Math, Fumbled Through Physics, And Did Reasonably Well In, And Even Enjoyed, Geology. All I Ever Looked Forward To Was Rotc. Autobiographical Comments On His Original Reason For Going To The City College Of New York, Where He Shortly Turned To His Military Career.

It Takes More Courage To Send Men Into Battle Than To Fight The Battle Yourself.

I Think All Of The Attention Of The World, To Include The Attention Of The Arab World, Should Be On Saddam Hussein And Whether Or Not He Is Prepared To Give Up The Weapons Of Mass Destruction That He Has Used To Terrorise The Region.

Mass Destruction

It Is The Fault Of The United States That These Terrible People, These Insurgents And Terrorists Are Out There. They Are The Ones That We Ought To Be Focusing Our Energy On Defeating And Not Just Wring Our Hands About The Fact That It's Going To Be Difficult.

Don't Bother People For Help Without First Trying To Solve The Problem Yourself.

Leadership Is The Art Of Accomplishing More Than The Science Of Management Says Is Possible.

Terrorism Threat Is Serious, And Not Just To American Interests. The Assaults In Russia Against Two Airliners, Bringing Them Out Of The Sky, And Against A Subway Station, And Then That Horrible Scene At The School In Beslan. This Kind Of Terrorist Activity No One Is Immune From It. And So It Suggests That We Have To Do Even More Together To Make Sure The Civilized Worlds Join Together In The War Against Terrorism.

It Isn’t Enough Just To Scream At The Occupy Wall Street Demonstrations. We Need Our Political System To Start Reflecting This Anger Back Into, 'how Do We Fix It? How Do We Get The Economy Going Again?'

The Information That The Intelligence People Used Was A Combination Of Satellite Information, Signals Intelligence, And Human Intelligence. We Are Not Sure To What Extent Saddam [hussein] Was Trying To Convey An Incorrect Picture To Us.

Respect For Leaders By Followers Can't Be Mandated; It Must Be Earned. It Has To Be Given To Leaders By Their Followers.

It Is Not Possible To Rule Out Anything Because We Don't Know What Will Happen.

We Need Stable Regimes In This Part Of The World [the Mideast] Who Will Be Partners And Friends Of Ours, Because The Fact Of The Matter Is We Do Rely On Imported Oil To Fuel Our Economy And To Fuel Our Nation.

Give Me The Right People And I Don’t Much Care What Organization You Give Me. Good Things Will Happen. Give Me The Wrong People And It Doesn’t Matter What You Do With The Organization. Bad Things Will Happen.

I Respect The Fact That Many Denominations Have Different Points Of View With Respect To Gay Marriage And They Can Hold That In The Sanctity In The Place Of Their Religion And Not Bless Them Or Solemnize Them.

At The Same Time I Think It Is Absolutely Necessary That There Be No Confusion, No Misunderstanding That If The Iraqis.. Do Not Comply, Then There Will Be Consequences And Those Consequences Will Involve The Use Of Military Force To Disarm Them Through Changing The Regime.

The Only Bipartisanship You Ever See Is When They Finally Sign A Bill And Everybody Says, 'gee, Isn't That Wonderful?'

A Mirror Reflects A Man's Face, But What He Is Really Like Is Shown By The Kind Of Friends He Chooses.

Company You Keep

Is There Something Wrong With Being A Muslim In This Country? The Answer Is "no." That's Not America.

With Vision Only, You Get No Follow-through. With Enforcers Only, The Vision Is Realized But Leaves A Lot Of Wreckage.

Even Though The Numbers Are Down With Respect To Favorability Ratings, At Every Embassy And Consular Office Tomorrow Morning That We Have, People Will Be Lined Up, And They'll All Say The Same Thing, "we Want To Go To America." So We're Still The Leader Of The World That Wants To Be Free. We Are Still The Inspiration Of The Rest Of The World. And We Can Come Back.

I Was Born In Harlem, Raised In The South Bronx, Went To Public School, Got Out Of Public College, Went Into The Army, And Then I Just Stuck With It.

The United States Stands Willing To Work With A Transformed Palestinian Authority With New Leaders Coming To The Front.

I'll Tell You What They're All Going To Face, Whichever One Of Them Becomes President On January 21st Of 2009. They Will Face A Military Force - A United States Military Force That Cannot Sustain - Continually Sustain 140,000 People Deployed In Iraq And The 20-odd Or 25,000 People We Have Deployed In Afghanistan And Our Other Deployments.

We View Egypt As A Good Friend Of America. We Are In Constant Touch With Them. We Provide Them Economic And Military Assistance As Part Of Our Relationship.

First You Train The Followers To Accomplish The Mission. Second, You Resource Them: Make Sure That They Have The Tools To Do The Job. Third, You Reward Them: You Give Them Medals Or Bonuses.

There Is No Such Thing As An Unimportant Person In An Organization.

Never Neglect Details. When Everyone's Mind Is Dulled Or Distracted The Leader Must Be Doubly Vigilant.

Organization Charts And Fancy Titles Count For Next To Nothing.

Let It [racism] Be A Problem To Someone Else... Let It Drag Them Down. Don't Use It As An Excuse For Your Own Shortcomings.

Nobody Is Ready To Leave Iraq To Be Interviewed.

Once The Information Is In The 40 To 70 Range, Go With Your Gut.

Let Me Just Be Candid: My Party Is Full Of Racists. And The Real Reason A Considerable Portion Of My Party Wants President Obama Out Of The White House Has Nothing To Do With The Content Of His Character, Nothing To Do With His Competence As Commander-in-chief And President, And Everything To Do With The Color Of His Skin. And That's Despicable.

All Children Need A Laptop. Not A Computer, But A Human Laptop. Moms, Dads, Grannies And Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles - Someone To Hold Them, Read To Them, Teach Them. Loved Ones Who Will Embrace Them And Pass On The Experience, Rituals And Knowledge Of A Hundred Previous Generations. Loved Ones Who Will Pass To The Next Generation Their Expectations Of Them, Their Hopes, And Their Dreams.

I Think You Can Improve On That Natural Ability With Training And Exposure To Great Leaders Of The Past And To Management Theories.

Every Organization Should Tolerate Rebels Who Tell The Emperor He Has No Clothes

Have A Vision. Be Demanding.

Don't Be Afraid To Challenge The Pros, Even In Their Own Backyard.

The United States Is Still Seen As The Leader At The World That Wants To Be Free.

For All The Hardship, I Was Still Excited To Be On The Trail, Testing My Endurance, Feeling Especially Alive As Strength And Fatigue Flowed Alternately Through My Limbs.

I Went To Graduate School As A Lieutenant Colonel After I Had Been In The Army For 12 Or 13 Years. I Learned So Much From All The Great Management Theorists. It Gave Me A Greater Understanding Of My Army Experience And Showed Me The Gaps In My Knowledge.

Fit No Stereotypes. Don't Chase The Latest Management Fads. The Situation Dictates Which Approach Best Accomplishes The Team's Mission.

There Is Only One China. Taiwan Is Not Independent. It Does Not Enjoy Sovereignty As A Nation.

Ambition And Hatred Are Enough To Bring Iraq And Al Qaeda Together.

Service-learning Is A Particularly Fertile Way Of Involving Young People In Community Service, Because It Ties Helping Others To What They Are Learning In The Classroom. It Enables Them To Apply Academic Disciplines To Practical, Everyday Problems. In The Process, It Provides A Compelling Answer To The Adolescent's Perennial Question, 'why Do I Need To Learn This Stuff?

Everyday Problems

The Freedom To Do Your Best Means Nothing Unless You Are Willing To Do Your Best.

The Troops May Whine And Moan, But When They Meet The Standard, There's A Sense Of Pride.

We Are Not Sure To What Extent Saddam's [hussein ] Own People Were Conveying An Incorrect Picture To Him. But This Body Of Evidence Was Believed Not Only By President George W. Bush. President Bill Clinton Used That Same Body Of Intelligence Before Bombing Iraq In 1998.

We Knew That Al-qaida Was A Threat To Our Country. We Knew That The Clinton Administration Understood This And Was Working Against Al-qaida We Did Not Ignore Al-qaida. We Spent A Lot Of Our Time Thinking About Terrorism, What Should We Do About It.

War Is Never A Happy Solution, But It May Be The Only Solution. We Must Exhaustively Explore Other Possible Solutions Before We Make The Choice For War. Every Political And Diplomatic Effort Should Be Made To Avoid War While Achieving Your Objective.

Don't Just Count Your Days, Make Your Days Count.

I Have Always Gone Through Public Life And Saying That With Respect To Political Candidates, I Always Measure Each Candidate Against What I Think The Country Needs At That Time, And I Will Vote For The Person I Think Who Is Most Qualified To Serve The Nation At That Time.

Policies That Emanate From Ivory Towers Often Have An Adverse Impact On The People Out In The Field Who Are Fighting The Wars Or Bringing In The Revenues.

It Was President [bill] Clinton And The United States Congress In 1998 Which Said That The Regime Has To Be Changed Because The Regime Would Not Give Up Its Weapons Of Mass Destruction. We Came Into Office In 2001 And Kept That Policy Because Saddam Hussein Had Not Changed.

Mass Destruction

Economy's Got To Get Moving, We've Got To Get The Unemployment Rate Down. That May Be The Defining Issue Of The Campaign.

The Great Leaders That I Have Worked With Are People Who Have A Good Sense Of Empathy With Other People. They Can Walk A Factory Floor, Or Walk Through A Battalion And Smell If There's Something Wrong.

When You Wrestle With A Pig, He Has Fun, And You Just End Up Dirty.

It Remains Our Policy To Change The Regime Until Such Time As The Regime Changes Itself. So Far, We Cannot Be Sure That He Is Cooperating Or He [saddam Hussein] Is Acting In A Way That Could Give Us Comfort, Or Should Give The International Community Comfort, That He Is Giving Up His Weapons Of Mass Destruction. He Continues To Give Us Statements That Suggest He Is Not In Possession Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction When We Know He Is.

Mass Destruction

I Have Seen Many Organizations Where There Is This Sense Of Purpose In The Headquarters But It Never Gets Cascaded Down To Everybody Within The Organization.

We Got Rid Of A Terrible Dictator. We Gave The Iraqi People An Opportunity For A New Life Under A Representative Form Of Government.

That's Why The Army Sends All Its Future Generals To What We Call "charm School." As Soon As You Are A General, People Think That You Know Everything. You Think Yourself That You Have Become Omniscient And Omnipotent. Be Careful, Because People Want To Do Everything They Can To Please The General, And You Need To Guard Against This.

None Of Us Can Change Our Yesterdays But All Of Us Can Change Our Tomorrows.

I Think The American People Are Sophisticated Enough And Wise Enough To Make Judgments About The Candidates And Wade Through The Charges And Countercharges That Come With The [election 2004] Campaign.

Trust Is The Essence Of Leadership.

As I've Thought About Gay Marriage, I Don't See Any Reason Not To Say That [couples] Should Be Able To Get Married.

Marriage Equality

The Most Important Thing I Learned Is That Soldiers Watch What Their Leaders Do. You Can Give Them Classes And Lecture Them Forever, But It Is Your Personal Example They Will Follow.

Maybe We Don't Put Our Young People In Situations Often Enough Where They're Allowed To Fail. When You Fail You Gain Experience, And With Enough Experience, You Don't Fail As Often.

When You Help The Poorest In The World, You Start To Move Them Up An Economic And Social Ladder, And They're Not Going To Be Moving Toward Violence Or Terrorism Of The Kind That We Worry About.

I Will Look For A Candidate, Republican Or Democrat, Who Seems To Be On The Way Or Understands How To Resolve The Economic Difficulties We're Having, How To Do Something About Unemployment, How To Make Sure That We Free Up Our Businesses And We Don't Over-regulate Ourselves.

I Happen To Hold A Bachelor Of Science Degree In Geology... And My Greatest Contribution To The Field Of Science Is That I Never Entered It.

The Best Method Of Overcoming Obstacles Is The Team Method

All Values Are Important, Everyone Who Has Ever Touched My Life In Some Way Was A Mentor For Good Or Bad. Life Is A Blend, And A Person Is A Blend Of All The Influences That Have Touched Their Lives.

When You Decide To Get Involved In A Military Operation In A Place Like Syria, You've Got To Be Prepared, As We Learned From Iraq And Afghanistan, To Become The Government, And I'm Not Sure Any Country, Either The United States Or I Don't Hear Of Anyone Else, Who's Willing To Take On That Responsibility.

If Everybody Trusts One Another, Then The Person Who Didn't Prevail Will Faithfully Execute The Decision As If It Was Their Idea.

Over The Years, The United States Has Sent Many Of Its Fine Young Men And Women Into Great Peril To Fight For Freedom Beyond Our Borders. The Only Amount Of Land We Have Ever Asked For In Return Is Enough To Bury Those That Did Not Return.

People Get Work Done, Not Buildings, Not Staffs In A Generic Sense, And Not Plans, But People

Get Mad, Then Get Over It.

When We Have Dealt With Bin Laden And His Network We Will Then Broaden The Campaign To Go After Other Terrorists All Around The World.

Good Leaders Set Vision, Missions, And Goals. Great Leaders Inspire Every Follower At Every Level To Internalize Their Purpose, And To Understand That Their Purpose Goes Far Beyond The Mere Details Of Their Job. When Everyone Is United In Purpose, A Positive Purpose That Serves Not Only The Organization But Also, Hopefully, The World Beyond It, You Have A Winning Team.

Let's Not Forget That Congress Bears A Lot Of Responsibility For Many Of The Problems We Have Now

It Is The Us Government's Desire For The Iraqi People To Lead Themselves, Not For Any Outside Power To Be The Leadership For Iraq In The Future. There May Be Some Transition Period Where The International Community Would Have To Help The Iraqi People Put In Place A Representative Government. But That Is The Goal, Not For The United States, Or Any Other Nation, For That Matter, Who Might Be In Such A Coalition, If One Is Formed, To Serve As The Leader Of The Iraqi Nation.

Preferring Members Of Any One Group For No Reason Other Than Race Or Ethnic Origin Is Discrimination For Its Own Sake. This The Constitution Forbids.

As A Leader You Set The Tone For Your Entire Team. Communicate Your Vision.

America Has A Terrible Educational Problem In The Sense That We Have Too Many Youngsters Not Finishing School. A Third Of Our Kids Don't Finish High School, 50 Percent Of Minorities Don't Finish High School.

Leadership Is Solving Problems. The Day Soldiers Stop Bringing You Their Problems Is The Day You Have Stopped Leading Them. They Have Either Lost Confidence That You Can Help Or Concluded You Do Not Care. Either Case Is A Failure Of Leadership.

How Can We Be Enemies When There Is So Much That Pulls Us Together? But In General I Found That I Had To Work With Each One Of My Foreign Colleagues In A Way That Was Consistent With Their System. Some Are Democracies, Some Are Not.

Organization Doesn't Really Accomplish Anything. Plans Don't Accomplish Anything, Either. Theories Of Management Don't Much Matter. Endeavors Succeed Or Fail Because Of The People Involved. Only By Attracting The Best People Will You Accomplish Great Deeds.

One Thing The Military Does Far Better Than Business Is Train Its Own Leaders. I Can't Go To Ibm And Hire A Battalion Commander. They Don't Have Any.

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