Bill Frist Quotes

We must solve problems before they occur, rather than scrambling to deal with crises after they erupt..

When we look at policy, it's important we make sure that it's up to date and reflective of the way the world works today - and where the world is heading in the future.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

We must be part of the general staff at the inception, rather than the ambulance drivers at the bitter end.

Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.

We're looking as far ahead as we can, and we don't get penalized for mistakes.

Public policy must lead and not merely react.

I always say that my job is not to think about today. My job is to look around the corner and feel and see what's coming, and then warn everybody else.

Look several months ahead, see where the obstacles lie, and figure out ways to overcome them.

I think we need ideas for the future.

We say that our world must think of and listen to consumers, and this is true, but not too much, in the sense that if you want to change and innovate, you must also think with your own head. Maybe you make choices that the market is not ready to accept but that will be accepted in 18 or 24 months.

Tomorrow always arrives. It is always different. And even the mightiest company is in trouble if it has not worked on the future. Being surprised by what happens is a risk that even the largest and richest company cannot afford, and even the smallest business need not run.

The man of action has the present, but the thinker controls the future.

You want to be an alchemist so badly? Don't wait to react to the immediate problem. Plan ahead. Look at the big picture and you won't ever have to deal with that problem. Better to save yourself from a major catastrophe than drag your feet over a bunch of little inconveniences.

If you don't choose to do it in leadership time up front, you do it in crisis management time down the road.

I know I made plenty of mistakes in my tenure. But one of the things that you learn is to be very careful and to protect yourself down the road a little bit, which is to say you've got to think ahead and think where is the story going to go? What are all the possible outcomes? And how do I protect the president from unexpected twists and turns in the road?

The ablest administrators do not merely draw logical conclusions from the array of facts of the past which their expert assistants bring to them, they have a vision of the future.

He who fails to plan is planning to fail.

It is better to anticipate than to react.

You need to get to the future, ahead of your customers, and be ready to greet them when they arrive.

We have a choice. We can shape our future, or let events shape it for us. And if we want to succeed, we can't fall back on the stale debates and old divides that won't move us forward.

Politics is about moving forward, looking forward.

Foresight is not about predicting the future, it's about minimizing surprise.

The best way to keep something bad from happening is to see it ahead of time... and you can't see it if you refuse to face the possibility.

A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door.