Rich Eisen Quotes

Practically every time I speak up at a school conference, a political event, or my apartment building association's annual meeting, I'm met with a display of someone else's superior intelligence.

Obama's stern demeanor punctuated by intermittent flashes of his wide, relaxing smile is his greatest weapon in defusing pent-up angst.

I prepared my intervention the night before I spoke. As it happened, there were about 44 cardinals who wished to speak but could not because there was not enough time. I was one of the last to speak.

Talking back and being quite aggressive about stuff and not giving a care in the world about anyone. So it was more, I think, that way and I think that's what happened in that party when I stood in between two people.

I'm reasonably good at talking onstage, but actually holding court in a pub is all to do with power dynamics which I don't think has anything to do with fiction.

I don't have a problem with conflict. I'm not a stranger to high-pressure situations. I've been there, believe me.

I'll tell you something: my dad was a nuclear engineer and he was really bright, and I've always said that because of negotiating at such a young age with my dad, it was really such a gift because I could then negotiate with very difficult personalities - and not end up being the scapegoat. I learned to really pick and choose my battles.

One thing about the fantasy dinner party idea that no one considers is whether these people are going to get on. I would say John McEnroe and Ian McEwan, but what would they have to say to each other?

There is no way I could discuss things with Jimmy in an intelligent way if I didn’t attend cabinet meetings

Unfortunately, I found out when I was trying to like square up with people and face off with people and, like, try to intimidate them and I'm pretty non-threatening.

I can remember in my lifetime when we used to argue with customers.

It's harder to scream at someone you just chatted with at lunch. I mean, if you're a superb actor, you might be able to do that, but I couldn't do it.

It's all realistic, if you get a group of ladies and you stick them together almost every day for three, four months you're going to have some catfights.

I taught my executive team how to argue.

I learned how to defend myself at the OSB, not physically but with words.

A lot of what a military officer does is not just leading troops in combat. It's also doing budgets. It's solving complex problems. If you can sit down with warlords, you can certainly sit down with different parties and folks with different interests and come out with an amenable solution.

Our success depends very largely upon how well we negotiate our way through our daily contacts with other people without friction or opposition.

So different groups have different definitions, and then they clash on those. So it takes adept leadership to say we're going to work through these.

You are strangely troublesome.

Some people have bigger egos than others. You have to take a lot of abuse, and take it in and not respond, because you don't want conflicts on the movie, you don't want to start screaming at people even when they treat you - even when they're not behaving properly, because you want them to do their job, and keep on doing it.

Maybe one day, I would write a story about arguing in public, and those would come in handy in some way.

School doesn't really teach you how to interact with people properly, you learn that outside of school.

Whether one talks well depends very much upon whom he has to talk to.

The Fundamental Principle that governs - or ought to govern -human affairs if we wish to avoid misunderstandings, conflicts, or pointless utopias, is negotiation.

If you are negotiating you must do so in a spirit of reconciliation, not from the point of view of issuing ultimatums.