Condoleezza Rice Quotes

Leaders make things happen. Leaders will take a situation and try and figure out what is it that we're trying to do, what is the problem, what kind of priorities and resources do we need, what kind of people do I need to bring to bear on this problem, what kind of plans do we need to succeed.

Strategy is choice. Strategy means saying no to certain kinds of things.

I used to spend my time more on process than strategy. Now, I prioritize my time around strategy, people, and process.

There are a lot of decisions we pass up on because we think, "You know what? That's just going to build - you know, maybe that's going to build me and not build the ministry and what I'm trying to do." So we pass up on a lot of opportunities.

No business can do everything. Even if it has the money, it will never have enough good people. It has to set priorities. The worst thing to do is a little bit of everything. This makes sure that nothing is being accomplished. It is better to pick the wrong priority than none at all.

Here's what management is about: Pick good people and set the right priorities.

Decisions are made by people who have time, not people who have talent.

The hard part of running a business is that there are a hundred things that you could be doing, and only five of those actually matter, and only one of them matters more than all of the rest of them combined. So figuring out there is a critical path thing to focus on and ignoring everything else is really important.

The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

Great leaders are willing to sacrifice the numbers to save the people. Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save the numbers.

Strategy 101 is about choices: You can't be all things to all people.

Everything we do in public policy prevents us from doing something else. To govern is to choose.

The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them.

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

We also have to ask if we focusing on the most important priorities.

Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different.

One of the problems of being a prime minister is that you can't do what people want all at once.

The operational tail will wag the intelligence dog. The top people will be forced to take up all their time in the direction of operations and will neglect intelligence.

I have been a soldier and a commander for many years and know how to differentiate between things - not to be busy all the time with the most sensitive matters and to give everything its due attention without having the issues that cause concern to constantly be troubling or worrisome.

In any campaign you make a lot of promises and you talk about a wide range of issues. When you're elected, the work of accomplishing those goals has to be sequenced. You can't do everything at once.

Need always plays into your decisions more as the draft unfolds.

It's extremely instructive to realize that you cannot do everything. You need to delegate, to find experts, to consult with them. A big part of the job of directing is knowing when to take something on and when you shouldn't.

That's the fun part of being CEO. You can actually say, 'Hey, this is what we should be spending our time on,' and people get it.

We all have many opportunities, but limited capacity to pursue them. Make choices, focus your time and energy, so that you can submit your share of masterpieces to the greater good.

The Pertinent Question is NOT how to do things right - but how to find the right things to do, and to concentrate resources and efforts on them.