Michael Dell Quotes

Every good businessman or woman carefully analyzes all the available facts before making a decision.

As an intelligence analyst you have to tell the president what you know, what you think you know and what you don’t know.

It's the business that you guys are in too. We try to get as much information as we can and make the best decisions that we can for the football team.

I don't have a particular recommendation other than that we base decisions on as much hard data as possible. We need to carefully look at all the options and all their ramifications in making our decisions.

We must get all the facts on the table, and then determine where we go.

If you talk about preemption you better know things rather than think things.

Informed decision-making comes from a long tradition of guessing and then blaming others for inadequate results.

I also believe that it is time to begin the fundamental analysis of how we got here, what led us here and what we need to do in order to ensure that we are equipped with the best possible intelligence as we face these issues in the future.

My job is to provide the president with the richest possible consideration, so that he knows what is at stake in whatever decision he makes.

Policymakers have to make judgments based on the best intelligence they get.

Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.

Future forecasting is all about testing strategies - it's like a wind tunnel.

Intelligence collection has its place—no question—… But no matter how important collection is, in the short and even the long run, it just doesn’t cost very much.

A great many decisions just can’t be made with confidence because the data just doesn’t exist …. [however] just because we don’t have the information doesn’t mean that we can’t get it.

One cannot guarantee that if we have good intelligence, good policy will necessarily follow. But we can guarantee that if we have poor intelligence, poor policy will necessarily follow.

I don't believe that you can make decisions on anything without having all of the details.

Hope is not the basis for policy. Wise policymakers analyze major issues such as immigration carefully and look at facts and probabilities instead of just hoping for the best.

Most great leaders in history that I've studied always need to get as wide a range of opinions as possible so that they can have sufficient information to make the right decisions.

To be a good analyst, you need to know what the trends are and what teams are doing.

I want to be an independent and responsible voice for Arizonans, and it would be unwise to endorse a specific approach before the costs and benefits of these options can be evaluated.

I know plenty of entrepreneurs who are numbers first. They tend to be highly analytical people, and before they pull the trigger, all the numbers have to line up just right.

You can't make good decisions without knowing the business.

People who are great at making decisions in the face of uncertainty have great judgment.

Suppose you had a small electrical fire and... a structural engineer [looked] at your home's wiring [and] reports that the wiring is "shot" and there is a 50% chance that your house would burn down in the next few years unless you replace all the wiring. The job will cost $20,000... so you get an independent assessment. The next engineer agrees with the first warning. You can either continue to shop for additional evaluations until you find the one engineer in 1,000 that is willing to give you the answer you want, "Your family is not in danger" or you can change the wiring.

Whenever I think about an issue, I always argue the opposite side of it. So, when I ultimately decide on a course of action, I've already been through all the conceivable scenarios, and I'm going to go for it.