Donald Rumsfeld
Enjoy your time in public service. It may well be one of the most interesting and challenging times of your life.Collection: Time
Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning.Collection: Learning
First rule of politics: you can't win unless you're on the ballot. Second rule: If you run, you may lose. And, if you tie, you do not win.Collection: Politics
In politics, every day is filled with numerous opportunities for serious error. Enjoy it.Collection: Politics
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.Collection: Leadership
Presidential leadership needn't always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.Collection: Leadership
If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.Collection: Brainy
If it were a fact, it wouldn't be called intelligence.Collection: Intelligence
Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.Collection: Leadership
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.
Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small.
Remember where you came from.
It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.
If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.
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.
I don't do quagmires.
Learn to say 'I don't know.' If used when appropriate, it will be often.
Arguments of convenience lack integrity and inevitably trip you up.
Don't be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it.
Don't do or say things you would not like to see on the front page of The Washington Post.
There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact.
Test ideas in the marketplace. You learn from hearing a range of perspectives. Consultation helps engender the support decisions need to be successfully implemented.
Don't divide the world into 'them' and 'us.' Avoid infatuation with or resentment of the press, the Congress, rivals, or opponents. Accept them as facts. They have their jobs and you have yours.
Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning.
Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.
Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist.
Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.
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.
If a prospective Presidential approach can't be explained clearly enough to be understood well, it probably hasn't been thought through well enough. If not well understood by the American people, it probably won't 'sail' anyway. Send it back for further thought.
If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes.
It isn't making mistakes that's critical; it's correcting them and getting on with the principal task.
Don't speak ill of your predecessors or successors. You didn't walk in their shoes.
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.
Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned; it was - by a taxpayer.
Members of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are not there by accident. Each managed to get there for some reason. Learn what it was and you will know something important about them, about our country and about the American people.
Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.
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 you develop rules, never have more than ten.
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.
Don't blame the boss. He has enough problems.
Don't automatically obey Presidential directives if you disagree or if you suspect he hasn't considered key aspects of the issue.
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.
Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.
Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive.
I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that.
When cutting staff at the Pentagon, don't eliminate the thin layer that assures civilian control.
Preserve the President's options. He may need them.
With the press there is no 'off the record.'
Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.
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.