Richard Armitage Quotes

Architecture and building is about how you get around the obstacles that are presented to you. That sometimes determines how successful you'll be: How good are you at going around obstacles?

The best way to make a good deal is to have the ability to walk away from it.

The essence of good business is knowing when to step on a train and when to step off.

In every place there are 100 people who can say no and only one person who can say yes. You have to get a good piece of material to the right person.

Anybody can do a deal. The tough part is doing the deal at the right time, being strategic.

As a goalkeeper you need to be good at organising the people in front of you and motivating them. You need to see what's going on and react to the threats. Just like a good manager in business.

Uncertainty is a permanent part of the leadership landscape. It never goes away.

Where visionaries can be good at persuasion, CEOs are good at wielding authority. Visionaries transcend organizations, resources, and current realities, while CEOs master them.

Well, the first quality of being a good leader is you have to be able to follow. See, a good leader can't just be the leader all the time, I have to be able to follow.

Management teams aren't good at asking questions. In business school, we train them to be good at giving answers.

You should get as close to the power when you're pitching something. I got my two biggest breaks with the man who owned CBS and the guy that owned Paramount, because I was dealing with the guy who would say yes or no.

One of the things that I'm really proud of is that I have really good timing. It's very easy for me to see what's coming up and it's no coincidence that I went headfirst into wine and then headfirst into new media - none at all.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

I think my clients would tell you I'm a problem solver. I'm not there to agree with people. I'm there to articulate a point of view. Am I insistent and tenacious? Absolutely. I could not get this work done if I was not.

Good leaders need a positive agenda, not just an agenda of dealing with crisis.

The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do.

There are certain skills that business people have that are - that are, in fact, helpful in - when it comes to being in political leadership.

I've been making deals all my life.

The capability of negotiating... is something that means you not only have to understand fully what you believe and what your national interests are but in order to be a really good negotiator, you have to try to figure out what the other person on the other side of the table has in mind.

I wait and take on projects that I think can work.

You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run.

You can never in negotiations be totally predictable. The minute you’re predictable, they’re going to figure out how to take advantage.

The nation needs"a president with brains; one who can make a plan and carry it out.

Good political leadership for me involves getting the big decisions right - however difficult, however controversial, however potentially divisive and then being able to take people with you.

Two types of choices seem to me to have been crucial in tipping their outcomes towards success or failure: long-term planning, and willingness to reconsider core values.