"It's getting the right person that's the challenge"
About this Quote
Elections, hires, and appointments tend to drown in strategy, money, and spectacle. The hard part, as Bob Schieffer suggests, is simpler and far more stubborn: choosing the person who actually fits the job. Processes can be refined, metrics sharpened, debates staged, but if the selection is wrong, everything downstream becomes damage control. If it is right, many problems never arise.
A veteran political journalist and longtime moderator of Face the Nation, Schieffer spent decades watching institutions search for leaders. He saw how public life often rewards the loudest or most telegenic rather than the most steady, how fundraising eclipses judgment, and how a clever message can mask thin experience or wobbly ethics. The challenge he names is not a shortage of candidates but a shortage of clear seeing. Information is noisy, incentives skew short term, and biases pull decision-makers toward familiarity, charisma, or tribal comfort rather than competence and character.
The phrase right person does not mean a flawless person. It means fit: the blend of skill, temperament, values, and stamina that aligns with the mission and moment. A wartime leader is not the same as a reformer; a startup builder differs from a steward of scale. Getting that match right requires patience, curiosity, and an appetite for evidence over theater. It means asking how someone has behaved when the cameras were off, whether they learn, how they handle bad news, and where their loyalties truly lie.
Schieffer’s line also applies to journalism itself. The truth often hinges on finding the right source, the witness who saw the whole picture, the expert not angling for airtime. Systems, whether newsrooms, companies, or governments, rise or fall on the judgment embedded in their choices. The work is not only to decide, but to discern. Take that seriously, and many other challenges become manageable. Ignore it, and even the best process will fail.
A veteran political journalist and longtime moderator of Face the Nation, Schieffer spent decades watching institutions search for leaders. He saw how public life often rewards the loudest or most telegenic rather than the most steady, how fundraising eclipses judgment, and how a clever message can mask thin experience or wobbly ethics. The challenge he names is not a shortage of candidates but a shortage of clear seeing. Information is noisy, incentives skew short term, and biases pull decision-makers toward familiarity, charisma, or tribal comfort rather than competence and character.
The phrase right person does not mean a flawless person. It means fit: the blend of skill, temperament, values, and stamina that aligns with the mission and moment. A wartime leader is not the same as a reformer; a startup builder differs from a steward of scale. Getting that match right requires patience, curiosity, and an appetite for evidence over theater. It means asking how someone has behaved when the cameras were off, whether they learn, how they handle bad news, and where their loyalties truly lie.
Schieffer’s line also applies to journalism itself. The truth often hinges on finding the right source, the witness who saw the whole picture, the expert not angling for airtime. Systems, whether newsrooms, companies, or governments, rise or fall on the judgment embedded in their choices. The work is not only to decide, but to discern. Take that seriously, and many other challenges become manageable. Ignore it, and even the best process will fail.
Quote Details
| Topic | Relationship |
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