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We Are Not Trapped In What The Science Of Management Says We Can Do. We Are Capable Of Doing What The Art Of Leadership Says Is Possible.

-Colin Powell

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We Are Not Trapped

Colin Powell

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We Are Not Trapped In What The Science Of Management Says We Can Do. We Are Capable Of Doing What The Art Of Leadership Says Is Possible.

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I Don't Think We Handled The Aftermath Of The Fall Of Baghdad As Well As We Might Have. But That's Now History.

Sometimes What My Analytical Mind Says To Me Is Not What I'll Do.

There Can Be No Doubt That Saddam Hussein Has Biological Weapons And The Capability To Rapidly Produce More, Many More.

Many Interviewers When They Come To Talk To Me, Think They're Being Progressive By Not Mentioning In Their Stories Any Longer That I'm Black. I Tell Them, 'don't Stop Now. If I Shot Somebody You'd Mention It.'

Every Organization Needs To Be Introspective, Transparent, And Honest With Itself. This Only Works If Everyone Is Unified On The Goals And Purposes Of The Organization And There Is Trust Within The Team. High-performing, Successful Organizations Build Cultures Of Introspection And Trust And Never Lose Sight Of Their Purpose.

I'm Sleeping Like A Baby, Too. Every Two Hours, I Wake Up, Screaming.

The Less You Associate With Some People, The More Your Life Will Improve. Any Time You Tolerate Mediocrity In Others, It Increases Your Mediocrity. An Important Attribute In Successful People Is Their Impatience With Negative Thinking And Negative Acting People.

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

In The Military We Also Learn Principles Of War Which Also Work In A Corporate Setting: How Do You Concentrate As Much Of Your Force As Possible On A Critical Point And Take A Risk Elsewhere? In Business That Translates Into Focusing Your Investment On Marketing, Sales, Or R&d, Whichever Will Give You The Greatest Return.

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.

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.

My Own Experience Is Use The Tools That Are Out There. Use The Digital World. But Never Lose Sight Of The Need To Reach Out And Talk To Other People Who Don't Share Your View. Listen To Them And See If You Can Find A Way To Compromise.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It' Is The Slogan Of The Complacent, The Arrogant Or The Scared. It's An Excuse For Inaction, A Call To Non-arms.

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.

There Are A Lot Of Bigger Issues We Have To Be Worrying About With Respect To Our Relationship To China, And The Longer They Drag Out The Situation, The More Difficult It Is To Get This Relationship Back On Track.

In The Military, We Are Also Taught To Only Use One Third Of The Available Decision-making Time, So That Our Subordinates Have Time To Go Through Their Own Decision Processes When They Learn What We Want Them To Do.

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

Trust Is The Essence Of Leadership.

Today I Can Declare My Hope And Declare It From The Bottom Of My Heart That We Will Eventually See The Time When That Number Of Nuclear Weapons Is Down To Zero And The World Is A Much Better Place.

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

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

I Have Found That Leadership Is Leadership Is Leadership. It Applies Whether You Are In Government Or In Corporate Life Or In Non-profit Life.

War Should Be The Politics Of Last Resort. And When We Go To War, We Should Have A Purpose That Our People Understand And Support.

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.

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

You Can Never Err By Treating Everyone In The Building With Respect, Thoughtfulness, And A Kind Word. Everyone Of Our Employees Is An Essential Employee. Every One Of Them Wants To Be Viewed That Way. And If You Treat Them That Way, They Will View You That Way. They Will Not Let You Down Or Let You Fail. They Will Accomplish Whatever You Have Put In Front Of Them.

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.

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

With Respect To Our Friends In The [iraq] Region, Each Has Its Own System, Each Will Have To Make Its Own Judgment As To Whether It Will Change, How Fast It Will Change, And We Hope That We Can Help Influence Them As To How Change Comes About And What Change Might Be Better For Them Than Other Forms Of Change.

You Don't Know What You Can Get Away With Until You Try.

We Need To Understand That We As Citizens And As A Government In Any Community Throughout This Country Have No More Important Obligation Than To Educate Those Who Are Going To Replace Us.

We Are Not Shrinking From Talking To Saudis Or Anyone Else In The Region, But It Is Up To Each Nation In The Region To Decide On Its Own How It Will Proceed And At What Pace. There Are Other Nations In The Region That Had Similar Policies To Saudi Arabia That Are Starting To Make Changes, Such As Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco. And So It Takes Time But When You See The Need For Such Changes, Then Changes Tend To Follow.

The Day Soldiers Stop Bringing You Their Problems Is The Day You Have Stopped Leading Them.

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

The Purposes Of The United States Should Not Be Doubted. The Security Council Resolutions Will Be Enforced - The Just Demands Of Peace And Security Will Be Met - Or Action Will Be Unavoidable. And A Regime That Has Lost Its Legitimacy Will Also Lose Its Power.

Let Me Blow That Up For You Again.

Endeavors Succeed Or Fail Because Of The People Involved.

We Would Like To See New Leaders Come Forward Who Would Be Accountable And Responsible, Who Would Succeed In Ending The Terror And The Violence. And It Is Up To The Palestinian People To Judge Who Those New Leaders Should Be.

So Has The Strategic Decision Been Made To Disarm Iraq Of Its Weapons Of Mass Destruction By The Leadership In Baghdad? I Think Our Judgment Has To Be Clearly Not.

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

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

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

How Often Have We Seen Politicians Take A Principle Position Only To Give It Up Three Days Later? That Is What Makes Democracy So Fascinating.

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.

It Was The Congress That Imposed 'don't Ask, Don't Tell,' It Was Certainly My Position, My Recommendation To Get Us Out Of An Even Worse Outcome That Could Have Occurred.

Recommendations

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

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.

The Best Leaders Are Those Who Break That Mission Down Into The Organization's Constituent Parts, So That Everybody Understands Their Role And How It All Builds Into The Whole.

Failure Is A Part Of Life And You Have To Learn To Deal With It. Failure Is Something That Is Part Of Life's Cycle And It's From Failure That You Gain Life Experience.

Life Experience

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.

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.

The Long Bitter Years Of The Cold War Are Over. America And Her Allies Have Won; Totally, Decisively, And Overwhelmingly....so Thank You Sac. Job Well Done. Enjoy Your Retirement.

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.

This Is Something Else That Is Drilled Into Us In The Military: Make Sure You Know Who Your Replacement Is, In Case You Become A Casualty. So You Have To Have Depth Within An Organization.

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

The Root Cause Of Poverty Is Social Injustice And The Bad Government That Abets It

The President's Personal Staff Has A Unique Role.

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.

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.

Every Human Endeavor Has Leaders And Followers, And Your Job As A Leader Is To Inspire.

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

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

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.

The Court Is Perhaps One Of The Last Citadels Of Jealously Preserved Individualism. For The Most Part, We Function As Nine, Small Independent Law Firms.

I Don't Think Anyone Would Disagree With The Conclusion That Saddam [hussein] Was A Terrible Dictator. He Had Gassed His Own People And His Neighbors. He Had Killed Thousands Of People, And He Had Started A Couple Of Wars And Destroyed His Country.

Use The Formula P=40 To 70, In Which P Stands For The Probability Of Success And The Numbers Indicate The Percentage Of Information Acquired. Once The Information Is In The 40 To 70 Range, Go With Your Gut.

Baghdad Fell On April 9, 2003, Hussein And His Regime Were Brought Down, We Declared "mission Accomplished" And Celebrated Victory . . . And Chaos Erupted. We Did Not Assert Control And Authority Over The Country, Especially Baghdad. We Did Not Bring With Us The Capacity To Impose Our Will. We Did Not Take Charge. And Iraq Did Not In A Few Weeks Magically Transform Itself Into A Stable Nation With Democratic Leaders. Instead A Raging Insurgency Engulfed The Country.

Politics Is Different, Because The Mission Is Always To Get The Necessary Votes. A Good Politician Goes Through Everything In Terms Of Mission And Vision, And Resourcing, But At The End Of The Day Politicians Have To Make Compromises In Order To Achieve Consensus.

The End Of The Day

Even The Greatest Of All Strategists Must Occasionally Take Into Account The Presence Of An Enemy.

We Are Rather Candid With Them About The Nature Of Their Political Processes And The State Of Development Of Their Institutions, But They Are Looking To The West Because They Know That's Where Success Lies.

I Regret That The Presentation I Made At The Un Turned Out To Be Wrong. It Was Wrong On The Stockpiles Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction, But Pretty Much Right On Intentions And Capabilities.

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.

You Can Be Sure That The American Spirit Will Prevail Over This Tragedy.

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 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.

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

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.

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

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.

Ladies And Gentlemen, These Are Not Assertions. These Are Facts, Corroborated By Many Sources, Some Of Them Sources Of The Intelligence Services Of Other Countries.

Intelligence Services

Look For Intelligence And Judgment And, Most Critically, A Capacity To Anticipate, To See Around Corners. Also Look For Loyalty, Integrity, A High Energy Drive, A Balanced Ego And The Drive To Get Things Done.

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.

The Ties That Bind Us Are Stronger Than The Occasional Stresses That Separate Us.

One Of The Most Worrisome Things That Emerges From The Thick Intelligence File We Have On Iraq's Biological Weapons Is The Existence Of Mobile Production Facilities Used To Make Biological Agents.

We Have To Start Thinking Of America As A Family. We Have To Stop Screeching Screeching At Each Other, Stop Hurting Each Other, And Instead Start Caring For, Sacrificing For And Sharing With Each Other ... We Cannot Move Forward If Cynics And Critics Swoop Down And Pick Apart Anything That Goes Wrong, To A Point Where We Lose Sight Of What Is Right, Decent And Uniquely Good About America.

I Don't Know Who All Of His Advisers Are, But I've Seen Some Of The Names And Some Of Them Are Quite Far To The Right. And Sometimes They Might Be In A Position To Make Judgments Or Recommendations To The Candidate That Should Get A Second Thought.

Nobody Is Ready To Leave Iraq To Be Interviewed.

It Is Good If Your Enemy Underestimates You. The Dumber They Think You Are The More Surprised They Are When You Kill Them.

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

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.

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 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.

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

Effective Leaders Are Made, Not Born. They Learn From Trial And Error, And From Experience.

Trial And Error

Look At The World. There Is No Pure Competitor To The United States Of America.

Think Hard About It: I'm Running Out Of Demons. I'm Running Out Of Villians. I'm Down To Castro And Kim Il Sung.

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.

Perpetual Optimism Is A Force Multiplier. I Am Talking About A Gung-ho Attitude That Says 'we Can Change Things Here, We Can Achieve Awesome Goals, We Can Be The Best. 'spare Me The Grim Litany Of The 'realist;' Give Me The Unrealistic Aspirations Of The Optimist Any Day.

Generally You Should Act Somewhere Between P40 And P70, As I Call It. Sometime After You Have Obtained 40 Percent Of All The Information You Are Liable To Get, Start Thinking In Terms Of Making A Decision. When You Have About 70 Percent Of All The Information, You Probably Ought To Decide, Because You May Lose An Opportunity In Losing Time.

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.

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

It Is The Job Of Leaders To Eliminate Uncertainty.

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

Being Optimistic

Our Strategy In Going After This Army Is Very Simple. First We Are Going To Cut It Off, And Then We Are Going To Kill It.

I Strongly Believe That At This Point In America's History, We Need A President That Will Not Just Continue, Even With A New Face And With Some Changes And With Some Maverick Aspects, Who Will Not Just Continue, Basically, The Policies We Have Been Following In Recent Years. I Think We Need A Transformational Figure. I Think We Need A President Who Is A Generational Change.

Be Careful What You Choose: You May Get It.

I'm Going To Be Bringing People Into The Public Diplomacy Function Of The Department Who Are Going To Change From Just Selling Us In The Old Usia Way To Really Branding Foreign Policy, Branding The Department, Marketing The Department, Marketing American Values To The World And Not Just Putting Out Pamphlets.

The United States Presents A Value System To The World That Is Based On Democracy, Based On Economic Freedom, Based On Individual Rights For Men And Women, .. I Think That Is What Makes Us Such A Draw For Nations Around The World. People Come To The United States To Be Educated, To Become Americans. We Are A Country Of Countries And We Touch Every Country, And Every Country In World Touches Us.

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

Giving Back Involves A Certain Amount Of Giving Up.

If A Leader Doesn't Convey Passion And Intensity Then There Will Be No Passion And Intensity Within The Organization And They'll Start To Fall Down And Get Depressed.

An Organization That Is Not Facing Up To People Who Are Not Getting The Job Done, Is Going To Have Difficulties.

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

I Think That Military, Corporate, And Non-political Organizations Are Pretty Much Similar.

Have A Sense Of Humor To Break The Tension In Times Of Great Toil.

We Are Not Trapped In What The Science Of Management Says We Can Do. We Are Capable Of Doing What The Art Of Leadership Says Is Possible.

Just Hit My 75th Birthday, I'm Feeling Great!

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.

The Essence Of Leadership Is Building Bonds Of Trust In Your Organization.

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.

Bad News Isn't Wine. It Doesn't Improve With Age.

If You Are Black, If You Are Puerto Rican Or Hispanic, Be Proud Of That. But Don't Let It Become A Problem. Let It Become Somebody Else's Problem.

Don't Be Buffaloed By Experts And Elites. Experts Often Possess More Data Than Judgment. Elites Can Become So Inbred That They Produce Hemophiliacs Who Bleed To Death As Soon As They Are Nicked By The Real World.

I Always Like To Take My Time And Examine The Two Candidates, See Not Only The Two Candidates But The Policies They Will Bring In, The People They Will Bring In, Who They Might Appoint To The Supreme Court, And Look At The Whole Range Of Issues Before Making A Decision.

Actually, There Is No More Important Task For A Leader Than To Pick People. To Make Sure You Have The Very Best People Working For You.

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

Good Leaders Must Know How To Reward Those Who Succeed And Know When To Retrain, Move, Or Fire Ineffective Staff.

It's A Disgrace That We Have Millions Of People Who Are Uninsured.

Don't Let Adverse Facts Stand In The Way Of A Good Decision.

This Is About Americans Getting Off The Sidelines And Getting Onto The Playing Field, .. This Is About Each And Every One Of Us Who Have Been Blessed By The Wealth Of This Country Sharing That Blessing By Reaching Down And Reaching Back And Lifting Up Somebody In Need. That's What America Is All About. That's What Being American Is All About.

With Respect To Where We Are Now, We Have A Voluntary Army. And If We Ever Go Back To Conscription I Hope That At Time It Will Be The Kind Of Conscription That Was Put In At The End Of The Vietnam War. And That Is, Everybody Is Equally Liable To Be Called To Serve The Nation In Time Of Conflict.

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

It's Really Not A Number I'm Terribly Interested In.

Some Of The Generals Are Saying, 'we're Making Progress. We Are Clearing An Area.' But You Really Don't Defeat The Taliban By Clearing An Area. They Move.

My Own Experience Is That You Get As Much Information As You Can And Then You Pay Attention To Your Intuition, To Your Informed Instinct.

Don't Take Counsel Of Your Fears Or Naysayers.

The One Thing The Terrorists Cannot Do -- Not One Of Them, Not 10 Of Them, Not 10,000 Of Them -- They Cannot Change Who We Are.

The Healthiest Competition Occurs When Average People Win By Putting Above Average Effort.

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

Leadership Is Solving Problems.

Problem Solving

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.

I Consider Myself A Moderate Republican. I Have Very, Very Moderate Social Views, And I'm Pretty Strong On, On Defense Matters.

We Now Believe It Is Appropriate For Saddam Hussein To Be Forced To Change, Either By The Threat Of War, And Therefore That Compels Him To Cooperate. If He Cooperates, Then The Basis Of Changed Regime Policy Has Shifted Because His Regime Has, In Fact, Changed Its Policy To One Of Cooperation. So If He Cooperates, Then That Is Different Than If He Does Not Cooperate.

Our Model Of Politics Is One That It Is Inclusive Of All Members Of The Society; All Should Be Represented. That Is The Nature Of Our Democracy.

The Burden Is On Saddam Hussein. And Our Policy, Our National Policy - Not The Un Policy But Our National Policy - Is That The Regime Should Be Changed Until Such Time As He Demonstrates That It Is Not Necessary To Change The Regime Because The Regime Has Changed Itself.

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

The United States-israeli Relationship Is Based On The Broadest Conception Of American National Interest In Which Our Two Nations Are Bound Forever Together By Common Democratic Values And Traditions. This Will Never Change.

The Greatest Gifts My Parents Gave To Me...were Their Unconditional Love And A Set Of Values.

Unconditional Love

Leaders Have Followers. The Primary Role Of A Leader Is To Convey To Those Followers A Sense Of Purpose, Vision, And Mission.

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.

Lying Offshore, Ready To Act, The Presence Of Ships And Marines Sometimes Means Much More Than Just Having Air Power Or Ship's Fire, When It Comes To Deterring A Crisis. And The Ships And Marines May Not Have To Do Anything But Lie Offshore. It Is Hard To Lie Offshore With A C-141 Or C-130 Full Of Airborne Troops.

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

We Hope That More Assistance Will Be Available To The Nations Of The Region, To Include Egypt, On The Three Pillars That I Discussed Today: Civic Society Development, Education And Economic Development.

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

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

No One Has Done More To Prevent Conflict - No One Has Made A Greater Sacrifice For The Cause For Peace - Than You, America's Proud Missile Submarine Family. You Stand Tall Among Our Heroes Of The Cold War.

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?'

I Recommended To The President [george Bush] That Our Focus Had To Be On Al-qaida, The Taliban And Afghanistan. Those Were The Ones Who Attacked The United States Of America On 9/11.

There's No Doubt In My Mind, Though, That The Iraqi People Would Be Better Off With A Different Leader Who Did Not Waste Their Oil On Weapons, As Opposed To Education, As Opposed To Healthcare, As Opposed To Food, As Opposed To Roads, As Opposed To Clean Water. It Is Really Sinful, A Crime, What Saddam Hussein Has Done With The Wealth Of The Iraqi People Over The Last 30 Years.

Free Speech Is Intended To Protect The Controversial And Even Outrageous Word; And Not Just Comforting Platitudes Too Mundane To Need Protection.

Leadership Is All About People … And Getting The Most Out Of People.

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

A Sense Of Shame Is Not A Bad Moral Compass.

In Terms Of The Legal Matter Of Creating A Contract Between Two People That's Called Marriage, And Allowing Them To Live Together With The Protection Of Law, It Seems To Me Is The Way We Should Be Moving In This Country.

What You’re Seeing With Occupy Wall Street And The Others Are People Who Are Unhappy And They’re Directing Their Unhappiness Now Toward Wall Street And Toward Those They Think Are Doing Too Well In Our Society.

I Understand That And I Have Had Very Candid Discussions With Saudi Leaders In The Past. I Respect Their Culture And Their Heritage And Their Traditions, But I Think That They Now, As They Move Forward, Will Have To Start Examining These Traditions And These Practices To See Whether Or Not Change Is Appropriate.

In The Army, All Combat Officers Are Taught The "estimate Of The Situation": When You Are Faced With A Problem - Take That Hill, Or In Business Maybe Grow Your Market Share - The First Thing You Do Is To Make An Analysis Of Your Environment.

I Would Sit And Talk To Any President Who Wishes To Talk To Me, But I'm Not Anxious To Rule It In.

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.

There Is No Question About The Fact That We Had Very Serious Disagreements With My German, French, And Russian Colleagues Over The Iraq War. But I Never Stopped Talking.

Surround Yourself With People Who Take Their Work Seriously, But Not Themselves, Those Who Work Hard And Play Hard.

But You Have To Understand, American Democracy Is Not Like The System You Have. We're Not An Ocean Liner That Sails Across The Ocean From Point A To Point B At 30 Knots. That's Not American Democracy. American Democracy Is Kind Of Like A Life Raft That Bobs Around The Ocean All The Time. Your Feet Are Always Wet. Winds Are Always Blowing. You're Cold. You're Wet. You're Uncomfortable -- But You Never Sink.

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.

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

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

Saudi Arabia Will Have To Decide Its Own Path, And I Don't Know If It Will Decide A Path Like Any Other Nation In The Region Or If It Will Design Something That Is Unique To Saudi Arabia.

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.

Remain Calm, Be Kind.

What We Would Be Committed To Would Be A Representative Government Where All The Iraqi People Decide Who Should Lead Their Nation, And Lead It In A Way That Keeps It Together As A Single Nation And Where All Parts Of The Nation - Shia, Sunni And Kurds - Are Able To Live Free And In Peace And Believe That Their Interests Are Represented By The Government.

The Commander In The Field Is Always Right And The Rear Echelon Is Wrong, Unless Proved Otherwise.

Don't Be Afraid To Challenge The Pros, Even In Their Own Backyard. Learn From The Pros, Observe Them, Seek Them Out As Mentors And Partners. But Remember That Even The Pros May Have Leveled Out In Terms Of Their Learning And Skills. Sometimes Even The Pros Can Become Complacent And Lazy.

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

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

One Important Element Of Leadership Is Taking Care Of The Troops.

You Should Never Be So Involved With Your Position/job That When The Position Is Gone Your Entire Self Image Is Gone With It.

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.

I Think The Iranians Are Clearly Determined To Have A Nuclear Program. And We Have To Assume That With A Nuclear Program They Have The Capability And The Will To Create A Nuclear Weapon.

We Are Not Going To Dwell On Those Things That Divide Us. We Are Going To Rejoice In Those Things That Keep Us Together To Make This A Better Country - To Reach Down And Back To Touch Every Young Person In Need!

Being Responsible Sometimes Means Pissing People Off.

I Have The Deepest Regret About 9/11. Sept. 11, 2001, Was One Of The Most Difficult Days I've Ever Had. I Was In Lima, Peru, And Had To Fly Back Eight Hours Not Knowing What Happened In My Own Country, Knowing Thousands Of My Fellow Citizens Had Died.

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.

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.

Everybody Makes Bad Decisions. I Am Sure I Have Made My Share Of Them Over 40 Years Of Service. Or I Have Made Good Decisions And Have Been Overruled. The Real Challenge, When You Are Overruled, Is To Remember Who The Boss Is And Don't Take It Personally.

There Is A War On Terror That Must Be Fought. Nobody's Immune... And So Rather Than Finding Fault With What Spain Has Done By Being Aggressive In The War On Terror, This Should Redouble Everyone's Efforts To Go After Terrorist Organizations Of Any Kind... Terror Has To Be Brought To An End.

The Best Way To Create A Winning Team Is To Train Them, Give Them Everything They Need To Get The Job Done And Second, Make Sure They Know What The Job Is And What The Job Will Be. So You Connect Strategy To Resources.

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.

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.

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

Only When You Have Got A Clear Statement Of What You Want To Achieve, Do You Ask Yourself How You Are Going To Achieve It. In The Military We Are Taught Never To Go For A Single Answer, No Matter How Obvious That Might Be.

Always Be Looking For That Which You Do Well And That Which You Love Doing, And When You Find Those Two Things Together — Man, You Got It.

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Jean Baudrillard

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