Douglas Wilson Quotes

Most automakers develop multiple options for a single project. Then they present those options to a committee of executives who decide which one to go with. That takes a lot of time.

It's always the organizations that are resource constrained that come up with the good ideas to win.

Directing is a more pragmatic experience, where you have to deal with the restrictions of time and money that force you to make certain decisions you don't have to make when you're writing.

Management is all about managing in the short term, while developing the plans for the long term.

We need to have fewer meetings, not more—as we have to have time to put into effect some of the things we decide in these meetings.

If you ask anybody at Microsoft, could they spend more money, all of them would say yes. They should say that! They should say, 'Yes, I have so many terrific innovative, interesting, awesomely impactful ideas that you have to get me more money.' I love that. I love that energy, and I listen to some really fascinating arguments.

With 'Gerald's Game' in particular, we didn't have enough money or time and it was really hard.

Decisions are made by people who have time, not people who have talent.

Johnson showed me how important it was to use every hour of every day to shape national policy while we had the power to do so.

That's part of being President. You can't focus on any one thing to the exclusion of all other things.

If time is not pressing on you, there are more options than otherwise.

Never send interim reports only final ones. Interim reports tend to elicit orders. Which you must then either obey, or spend valuable time and energy evading, which you could be using to solve the problem.

I made a cold calculation that I wasn’t going to waste time on a futile struggle.

Whoever has the best take is what matters. My challenge is finding the best take, and it'll always be that.

I do think - the metaphor I always use - it's the role of intelligence community to stay down in the engine room and shovel that intelligence coal, and people on the bridge get to decide where to drive the ship and how fast and how to arrange all the deckchairs.

As you grow as a company, you get layers and hierarchy that, in theory, should make your decisions a lot better. They get reviewed, and thoughtful people look at decision.

We can't solve all of our problems in a short time.

I have been a soldier and a commander for many years and know how to differentiate between things - not to be busy all the time with the most sensitive matters and to give everything its due attention without having the issues that cause concern to constantly be troubling or worrisome.

My time is really important to me, and where I put it has to be of tremendous value.

Leadership is inspiring people. Management is keeping the trains running on time.

In management terms, directing opera certainly prepares you for a film set: the magnitude of it, the experts in other fields that you have to call on. Both are massive ensemble jobs in which there's incredible pressure to get things done on time and on budget - so much so that making the wrong decision may be better than making no decision at all.

We need people with foresight who are willing to make films with smaller budgets and accept smaller profits.

My priority is having the ability to be creative and to come up with the right decisions and not be fettered. If there are a lot of people involved in decision making, it can become frustrating.

Having too many layers of approval in a dynamic battlefield environment delays our ability to fight and win, especially when troops are engaged in combat.

You have half a second to make your mind up to know if you're going to shoot, pass, drive. Don't hold the ball too long, and make your decision quick.