Woody Hayes Quotes

I think a good entrepreneur has a very clear grasp of what the goal is, an unwavering sense of the goal, an utterly agile approach of getting there.

Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals.

Being a Navy SEAL and sniper taught me all about risk management. Take away all the risk variables under your control and reduce it to an acceptable level. The same fundamentals apply in business.

My experience in decision-making has shown that patterns are tough to break. In the military, we study an opponent, looking for gaps, flaws, or weaknesses that can be exploited. Successful leaders at all levels in all disciplines conduct this kind of analysis.

Misfortunes, untoward events, lay open, disclose the skill of a general, while success conceals his weakness, his weak points.

Writing tends to be very deliberate. A novelist could probably run a military campaign with some success. They could certainly run a country.

He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.

Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.

It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.

The art of coalition command - whether it is here in Afghanistan, whether it was in Iraq or in Bosnia or in Haiti - is to take the resources you are provided with, understand what the strengths and weaknesses are and to employ them to the best overall effect.

Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.

Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.

Anyone who takes the first step without planning the last step should not be allowed in the counsels of war.

People laugh at my analogy in most cases - I go, 'Yeah, everything looks awesome on paper until you stick six guys in a submarine and go, 'Okay, go out and conquer America.''

Analysis of opponents is something I like doing.

Every manager must be prepared to face every situation.

I have found in my experience of war, that plans are useless, but planning is invaluable.

Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves

A commander in chief ought to say to himself several times a day: If the enemy should appear on my front, on my right, on my left, what would I do? And if the question finds him uncertain, he is not well placed, he is not as he should be, and he should remedy it.

If your enemy offers you two targets, strike at a third.

Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.

The admiral needs only one science, that of navigation. The general needs all the sciences.

Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuver. What is difficult about maneuver is to make the devious route the most direct and to turn misfortune to advantage.

Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.

A military mindset is objectively analyzing a planned course of action and anticipating the likely consequences before you take that action.