Leadership & Management: Vision & Strategy Quotes

"We have a set of sensible policies that are appropriate for the 21st century and which strike a chord of appeal with the silent majority. Perhaps that is why we are welcoming new members every week who have never before been involved in politics"

Steve Blake, Athlete

"Scholars and historians have dubbed the last 100 years the American Century, and I think there can be little doubt that the Council on Foreign Relations helped to make it so"

Spencer Abraham, Politician

"But I don't want to assume that our tradition of excellence is a guarantee of future excellence"

Dave Heineman, Politician

"So in 2000, when we changed the business model and started really focusing on that triangle and putting the customer in the center, we decided we should hold off - we've done enough consolidation; we've got enough critical mass"

Sanjay Kumar, Businessman

"You see, greatness for a state doesn't require some huge monument for all to see. It is not a journey to a particular destination - but a commitment to follow a course of constant and never-ending improvement"

Sonny Perdue, Politician

"If there's not any endgame, we're in quicksand. We take one more step, and we're still there, and there's no way out"

Richard Shelby, Politician

"Incentives are not strategy, they are tactics. Defensive measures"

Carlos Ghosn, Businessman

"We accelerated our capital spending in the fourth quarter, particularly in international and next-generation network deployment, which should not only sustain future revenue growth but also drive significant cost reductions across all communications services"

Bernard Ebbers, Businessman

"You can judge a leader by the size of the problem he tackles. Other people can cope with the waves, it's his job to watch the tide"

Antony Jay, Writer

"America's downgrade may serve as a wake-up call for its policymakers. It is an unambiguous and loud signal of the country's eroding economic strength and global standing. It renders urgent the need to regain the initiative through better economic policymaking and more coherent governance"

Mohamed El-Erian, Businessman

"But I think the bottom line right now is to take the constructive criticism and use that to build toward, as I say, the hurricane season that is 100 days away. And we don't have a lot of time to waste before we start to address that next set of challenges"

Michael Chertoff, Public Servant

"I've always believed in challenging Republicans where they think they are strongest"

Martin Frost, Politician

"We've got to figure out a way to cause communities to also want them, the political, organized bodies"

Lee Scott, Businessman

"There's just no vision. You have no ground, no vision"

Jessi Colter, Musician

"The uniqueness of the unit was more or less that it was focused on a single individual. It was really the first time the agency had done that sort of effort"

Michael Scheuer, Public Servant

"The Federal appropriations process is a marathon, not a sprint, and we are at the beginning of that process"

Jim Walsh, Politician

"This is a bipartisan effort. This is just good common sense. This is where the public wants us to go. They want us to not be so dependent on foreign oil"

Sam Brownback, Politician

"Always have a plan, and believe in it. Nothing happens by accident"

Chuck Knox

"Real vision demands that we make tough choices. Real vision is responsible and it is paid for"

Michael F. Easley, Politician

"It's incredible considering the public perception that he was tight fisted and he was more than prudent, and lacked ambition to take Tottenham to where the fans wanted them to be"

Alan Hansen, Athlete

"Obviously, overall infrastructure needs on the Southwest and Northern borders are mounting. We need a major push in Congress to remedy this"

Pete Domenici, Politician

"President Johnson offered the middle of the road"

Lew Wasserman, Producer

"Well, you know, what's so exciting is that it was a really telling campaign as well. Whenever we start looking at the differences, they could never be more clear"

Katherine Harris, Politician

"The mainstream media may have trouble resisting the temptation to declare that Karl Rove has been demoted, but the truth is quite the contrary. By giving up his role as deputy White House chief of staff, Rove has been freed to do what he does best: shape big issues and develop strategies to win elections"

Fred Barnes, Journalist

"If you're doing something new you've got to have a vision. You've got to have a perspective. You've got to have some north star you're aiming for, and you just believe somehow you'll get there, which kind of gets to the passion point"

Steve Case, Businessman

"Where we have the choice between putting a dollar against those that are going to advance horizontal integration and those that are going to sustain current capability, we'd rather put them against the horizontal integration activity"

Stephen Cambone, Politician

"I think we just need to stick to our knitting on the topics and the subjects the American people care about"

Sam Brownback, Politician

"Candidates don't have to deal with reality. They talk about the wonderful things they can accomplish as if advocating them is the same as achieving them. They live in a world of political make-believe in which everything from reconciling conflicting interests to paying for costly programs is easy"

Fred Barnes, Journalist

"Message to Obama: Fighting the Clinton machine won't be as easy as picking up favorable press clips"

Rich Lowry, Editor

"The important aspect shouldn't be whose administration it is, the important aspect should be how does the state of Wisconsin work? What can we do to move Wisconsin forward?"

Scott McCallum, Politician

"I have directed all of my cabinet to work to prepare a transition plan for the incoming administration"

Scott McCallum, Politician

"And one of the things I want to say, Wolf, is we're 100 days from hurricane season, and we've got to start focusing on what we're going to do to make ourselves ready for the next hurricane"

Michael Chertoff, Public Servant

"Many of them are doing it because they are concerned about smart growth"

Lee Scott, Businessman

"I am here before you tonight to dedicate this administration to bringing a new renaissance of neighborhood life and community spirit, a renewal of confidence in the future of our city and a revival of opportunity for all Chicago"

Jane Byrne, Politician

"We've complemented that with a second office to think about how we need to prepare ourselves for that period 10 or 15 or 20 years from now, by way of investment in our technology, our organization and our people"

Stephen Cambone, Politician

"A1 Great Britain has to look at the longer term"

John Surtees, Athlete

"South Australia has transformed. There has been a range of changes to our economy over the past 10 years in which we have genuinely set ourselves up for the future. I think we have to start behaving like that's real and project a quiet confidence in the future of our state"

Jay Weatherill, Politician

"Our job as a government is to start with the great underpinnings of our current economic growth - particularly defence and mining - and build on these"

Jay Weatherill, Politician

"So, all during the '90s and, you know, for the first half of this decade, we had opportunities to get evacuation plans in place, better communications in place"

Michael Chertoff, Public Servant

"If leaders in the space program had at its beginning in the 1940s, pointed out the benefits to people on Earth rather than emphasizing the search for proof of evolution in space, the program would have saved $100 billion in tax money and achieved greater results"

Walter Lang, Director

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