Donald Rumsfeld Quotes

My idea of management is that what your job is as the boss is to find really good people and empower them and leave them alone.

You need good staff with their own opinions - Mick Jones has been a great No 2 as he's not a yes-man - but at the end of the day the buck stops with you and the good managers are the ones who make more good decisions than bad.

A good leader should focus on making sure everyone is being given the tools to do their job, not just expecting - poof! - that they're going to produce great work.

Delegating doesn't mean passing off work you don't enjoy, but letting your employees stretch their skills and judgment.

The great irony of management is that the higher up you go, the less actual control you have. When you are but a humble coder, you make the computer do exactly what you want; when you're a manager, you only hope that people understand what you want, and then trust/pray that they do it both correctly and in a timely manner.

If you want someone else to do a task, don't do it yourself.

I have learned to delegate.

The first rule of management is delegation. Don't try and do everything yourself because you can't.

I am learning how to delegate and how to empower people.

You are on the ground. You see the needs of the situation, and I shall back up whatever you do.

A good leader has to at some point trust those around him; otherwise, nothing constructive is going to get done.

I always delegate. If someone is very good at something, whatever it is, he will be in charge.

Once you have set the goal, give your staff the space to get there. If you micromanage, you will be able to do very little.

Put the right people in the right places, and then you trust them to do the right stuff.

I think associate director jobs are the best in the world, because you can do what you want and not have to take responsibility for it!

You may give give a man office, but you cannot give him discretion

I think I have learned, in some degree at least, to disregard the old maxim ""Do not get others to do what you can do yourself."" My motto on the other hand is; ""Do not do that which others can do as well.

Management means, in the last analysis, the substitution of thought for brawn and muscle, of knowledge for folkways and superstition, and of cooperation for force. It means the substitution of responsibility for obedience to rank, and of authority of performance for the authority of rank.

When I give a minister an order, I leave it to him to find the means to carry it out.

Never delegate. Always empower.

I don't want you fellows sitting around asking me what to do. I want you to tell me what to do.

If you're going to give people authority and hold them responsible and ultimately accountable for their performance, you've got to get out of the way.

First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third, leave them to go get on with it.

A manager is responsible for the application and performance of knowledge.

People and organizations don't grow much without delegation and completed staff work because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses.