John Quelch Quotes

Every manager must be prepared to face every situation.

You've got to demonstrate you're capable of developing policies but, more importantly, you're capable of implementing them.

Rotary provides training at all levels so that those who have been selected for leadership positions have the opportunity to learn and apply leadership principles to their jobs.

Let the Dean and Canons lay their heads together and the thing will be done.

As a director, I never feel that I have the answers.

The art of politics is knowing what to do next.

In recent years, more and more of my time has become absorbed by administrative work for the research council of ETH-Z of which I am presently the president.

If I look myself as a manager, I have lot more to learn.

A CEO needs to build their own team.

What do you need to succeed in business? You need the ability to think critically and communicate, and those things you can get just as easily out of a philosophy degree.

Nobody knows how to be a CEO. It's something you have to learn. It's a very lonely job.

The Leadership Training Institute of America is a cultural think tank providing training and opportunity in leadership development and cultural dynamics.

Leaders of the future will have to be visionary and be able to bring people in - real communicators. These are things that women bring to leadership and executive positions, and it's going to be incredibly valuable and incredibly in demand.

I think directors should be confident in their leadership capabilities. I think directors should be confident in what they want to do.

I served seven years as the chair of the Princeton economics department where I had responsibility for major policy decisions, such as whether to serve bagels or doughnuts at the department coffee hour.

The main essentials of a successful prime minister are sleep and a sense of history.

I know how to make decisions, and I know how to lead.

Novice leaders often respond dramatically to provocations.

Yesterday the President had one of his busiest days. …. The corridor outside his study has been filled with gentlemen all day long. I often wonder how it is possible to adjust to so many different people and their interests in the course of a day, but after all that is one of the things every President must learn to do.

Beyond going around doing things as Secretary of State, you have to recognize that you had managerial responsibilities.

Debates measure abilities you don't need to govern, like glibness. To govern you should be thoughtful, not glib. A debater has a sense of humor, but what's it got to do with governing? The ability to think on your feet. You make a budget sitting on your tush.

Part of the job of being a producer is the Vulcan mind meld, where you listen not to what they're saying but what they mean.

Our managers need to have a strong integration of managerial skills and technical understanding. One cannot substitute for the other.

I am a salesman, I am an executive, I look at budgets, I think about power politics, but then I am also a creative person.

Throughout my career, I've been someone who's led... and solved problems we had.