Quotes About Leadership

On one foggy, misty night, King ordered the air groups from the Lexington and Saratoga to launch simultaneously well after sunset. The chaos was predictable but, in King's mind, instructional.

As always, King was the ultimate authority, the one and only arbiter. One night when the communications watch officer groped his way across the darkened flag bridge, he bumped into an unrecognized figure. "Sir, are you on duty?" he queried. "Young man," came the response, "this is the Admiral. I am always on duty.

Then Nimitz, being Nimitz, posted the usual watches and did the only thing that made sense to him. "On that black night somewhere in the Philippines," he later recalled, "the advice of my grandfather returned to me: 'Don't worry about things over which you have no control.' So I set up a cot on deck and went to sleep.

Other men would get to command the spear point; Nimitz would calmly and diligently manage the arm that held the spear.

The ultimate test of any military commander, however, is that he rises or falls with whatever glories or misfortunes befall his command. Sometimes he is responsible, sometimes he is not, but as the commander he is always accountable nonetheless. Had

The ultimate test of any military commander, however, is that he rises or falls with whatever glories or misfortunes befall his command. Sometimes he is responsible, sometimes he is not, but as the commander he is always accountable nonetheless

But Nimitz was very careful not to criticize Halsey in any way or to allow even a hint of controversy to enter the official records.

If the government was ever to be destroyed, Polk concluded, it would be by "the alluring and corrupting influence of executive patronage.

It only remained, he said, that the noble Chiefs assembled, laying aside every lesser consideration, should unite, heart and hand, in the common cause; send the fiery cross through their clans, in order to collect their utmost force, and form their junction with such celerity as to leave the enemy no time, either for preparation, or recovery from the panic which would spread at the first sound of their pibroch.

those who were intrusted with the command of the troops of the Republic in battle, were wont to resume the shepherd's staff when they laid down the truncheon, and, like the Roman dictators, to retire to complete equality with their fellow-citizens, from the eminence of military command to which their talents, and the call of their country, had raised them.

I am about to recount occurred during the last years of the 14th century, when the Scottish sceptre was swayed by the gentle but feeble hand of John, who, on being called to the throne, assumed the title of Robert the Third.

I learned to go into business only with people whom I like, trust, and admire.

In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you.

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.

People always ask me where they should go to work, and I always tell them to go to work for whom they admire the most.

I try to invest in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.

If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But, if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.

Having firstrate people on the team is more important than designing hierarchies and clarifying who reports to whom

If you see somebody with even reasonable intelligence and a terrific passion for what they do and who can get people around them to march, even when those people can't see over the top of the next hill, things are gonna happen

Talking to Time Magazine a few years back, Peter Drucker got to the heart of things: "I will tell you a secret: Dealmaking beats working. Dealmaking is exciting and fun, and working is grubby. Running anything is primarily an enormous amount of grubby detail work . . . dealmaking is romantic, sexy. That's why you have deals that make no sense.

ABCs of business decay, which are arrogance, bureaucracy and complacency.

From this irritating reality comes The First Law of Corporate Survival for ambitious CEOs who pile on leverage and run large and unfathomable derivatives books: Modest incompetence simply won't do; it's mindboggling screw-ups that are required.

For Buffett, managers are stewards of shareholder capital. The best managers think like owners in making business decisions.

The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.