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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.
Donald Rumsfeld
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Donald Rumsfeld
Age: 88 †
Born: 1932
Born: July 9
Died: 2021
Died: June 29
Author
Businessperson
Diplomat
Former U.S. Secretary Of Defense
Military Officer
Politician
Chicago
Illinois
Donald Henry Rumsfeld
May
Objectives
Back
Plan
Find
Forward
Wells
Plans
Well
Steps
Take
Achieve
Trace
Path
Intuitive
Clear
Backwards
More quotes by Donald Rumsfeld
Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the President and do wonders for your performance.
Donald Rumsfeld
You can have a broad popular democracy movement and have it end being taken over by the most vicious people and the result is you don't end up with free political systems or free economic systems, you end up with a handful of radicals controlling the country.
Donald Rumsfeld
Don't blame the boss. He has enough problems.
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Make decisions about the President's personal security. He can overrule you, but don't ask him to be the one to counsel caution.
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We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.
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One of your tasks is to separate the 'personal' from the 'substantive.' The two can become confused, especially if someone rubs the President wrong.
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When business accepts help from the government, it can be like going to bed with a hippopotamus. It's nice and warm for the moment, but then your bedmate rolls over and crushes you.
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When you raise issues with the President, try to come away with both that decision and also a precedent. Pose issues so as to evoke broader policy guidance. This can help to answer a range of similar issues likely to arise later.
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A few. . . critics are the only people I ever heard use the phrase 'imminent threat.' I didn't, the president didn't.
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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.
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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.
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The Cold War was a war, and we won it.
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There are things that we know, and there are things that we don't know. Then there are the things that we don't even know that we don't know. Those are the things that are the hardest.
Donald Rumsfeld
If there are people who yearn for the days when Saddam Hussein was in power, then I am not among them.
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Preserve the President's options. He may need them.
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Never assume the other fellow will not do something you wouldn't do.
Donald Rumsfeld
If you foul up, tell the President and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes.
Donald Rumsfeld
Treat each federal dollar as if it was hard earned it was - by a taxpayer.
Donald Rumsfeld
The natural state of man is to want to be free. To have opportunities. To have choices.
Donald Rumsfeld
I'm glad you asked. It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil.
Donald Rumsfeld