Donald Rumsfeld Quotes on Leading & Managing (12 Quotes)

where you, the Iraq people, will choose your own leaders.

I don't know what the circumstances of the leadership of the country is, ... I don't think people in the country know. We haven't seen any evidence in recent days.

Insofar as I am aware, we have gotten everything from Saudi Arabia that we have asked them to do. I have been in touch with the Saudi leadership, and there is no question they are our friends.

Given their geography and situation, I thought that meeting with the leadership there would be a good thing,

That leaves the counter-terrorism issue, which one would think for a period the coalition would continue to manage,

Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.

managing their affairs as people responsible for weapons of that power.

Control your time. If you're working off your in-box, you're working off the priorities of others. Be sure the staff is working on what you move to them from the President, or the President will be reacting, not leading.

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.

The policy of the United States has been in recent years to attempt to not engage the top two layers of that country, to try to say things and do things that reflect an understanding of the circumstances of the people of that country, and hope that the people of that country will have an opportunity to find ways to persuade the leadership of that country that it is going down the wrong road,

It is to capture or kill the senior Taliban leadership. And it is to disarm the rest of the Taliban.

We recognize and respect the leadership role that you have taken in this country politically and from an economic standpoint as well as a security standpoint,