Tom McCall Quotes

Often, what allows someone to behave heroically in dire circumstances is unpalatable in day-to-day life.

The only really committed artist is he who, without refusing to take part in the combat, at least refuses to join the regular armies and remains a freelance.

If you're used to being a maverick, then people don't get surprised when you start acting strangely.

You don't want to institutionalize the excesses required to meet extraordinary threats. The law just can't anticipate all the contingencies.

There are certain emergencies of nations, in which expedients, that in the ordinary state of things ought to be forborne, become essential to the public weal.

Sometimes the things we have to do are objectionable in the eyes of others

To solve a major crisis, you have to do things you would never do in normal times or even in a modest crisis…. What feels just and fair is often just the opposite of what is required for a just and fair outcome. It is why policy makers generally tend to make crises worse, and why the politics of crises management is always untenable.

Nations in great crises and difficulties have often done that which in their prosperous and powerful hour they would not have done.

That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I'm free to act as desperately as I wish.

NASA trains you to assess emergency situations and react in a way to keep yourself and everyone else safe.

Collaborative decision-making is very poor in crises.

Throughout my career I have done it my way and used my stubborn streak. I thought the best way to captain was to shut out all the noise - I did it with my batting and thought 'that has served me well, so why change it?'

How fast a company can respond in an emergency is a measure of its corporate reflexes.

In a crisis, the man worth his salt is the man who meets the needs of the situation in whatever way is necessary.

A company needs to have good business reflexes, to be able to marshal its forces in a crisis or in response to any unplanned event.

We need to act and act now to get people out of harm's way.

Men only act in a state of necessity and usually only recognise necessity in a situation of crisis.

The peril of the hour moved the British to tremendous exertions, just as always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which had previously been thought impossible. Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.

Here's my philosophy in life: If there's a fire, you put it out. If there's a flood, you fill sandbags and you build a dike. You roll up your sleeves and you get to work.

When you have the worst disaster in American history, you've got to be attuned to expectations,.

After the tsunami in Japan, we were open for business. In fact, I flew there 10 days after the tsunami to show our support for the Japanese people.

Human beings are often at their best when responding to immediate crises - car accidents, house fires, hurricanes. We are less effective in the face of enormous but slow-moving crises such as the loss of biodiversity or climate change.

After the First World War, Germany was trying to build a democracy. Then when the Reichstag, the legislature, was burned down in 1933, this was seen as such an emergency that human rights had to be suspended. The attack on the World Trade Towers has allowed Bush and his gang to do anything. What are we to do now? I say when there's a code red, we should all run around like chickens with our heads cut off. I don't feel that we are in any great danger.

Evaluate. Long experience had taught me to evaluate and assess. When the unexpected gets dumped on you, don’t waste time. Don’t figure out how or why it happened. Don’t recriminate. Don’t figure out whose fault it is. Don’t work out how to avoid the same mistake next time. All of that you do later. If you survive.

When everything is at risk, good judgment, not haste, makes the difference between life and death. Panic is the enemy.