Susan Rice Quotes

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

Governing is about making tough decisions, but it's also about figuring out a better way to do things.

The quality of a leader cannot be judged by the answers he gives, but by the questions he asks.

The experience of learning how to get straight to the core of a problem proved to be of immense value later when I had a long succession of responsibilities in large, complex government departments.

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

Effective management always means asking the right question.

I like to have fulsome discussions on every topic. What happens if you lose this show? What would you do? We have to look at every hypothesis.

When I consider a problem, it is now instinctive for me to think about the institutions involved, the authorizing environment, possible coalitions, likely opposition, implementation, legal issues, resource dimensions, communications - and how the problem fits into a stream of other issues.

The cardinal responsibility of leadership is to identify the dominant contradiction at each point of the historical process and to work out a central line to resolve it.

Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.

Dad was an outstanding leader. He'd bring in top thinkers from a wide array of fields - how to fix the Detroit schools, for example. I watched him in these meetings. He listened and probed.

Some players are wonderful hitters of the ball, but they can't figure out ways to get out of trouble. Eighty percent of the time, there is a way. You just have to know how to look for it.

Critical thinking is the most important factor with chess. As it is in life, you need to think before you make decisions.

Writing is sort of like chess for me. You have to think carefully before you move, thinking, planning.

Life is very much about making the best decisions you can. So I think chess is very valuable.

It is true that one has to think first and then to act - but it's also true that if one has no possibility of acting, one's thinking kind of becomes empty and stupid.

Chess is a unique cognitive nexus, a place where art and science come together in the human mind and are then refined and improved by experience.

Only when you have got a clear statement of what you want to achieve, do you ask yourself how you are going to achieve it. In the military we are taught never to go for a single answer, no matter how obvious that might be.

The game of chess is a metaphor for life... it teaches you strategy and it teaches you the value of knowing where you are, where you want to get to and what obstacles are in the way that you need to navigate in order to get there.

Thank you, darling, for learning to play chess. It is an absolute necessity for any well organized family. (in a letter to his wife)

Botvinnik tried to take the mystery out of Chess, always relating it to situations in ordinary life. He used to call chess a typical inexact problem similar to those which people are always having to solve in everyday life.

Leadership is solving problems.

Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life

Chess makes man wiser and clear-sighted.

Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.