Henry Grattan Quotes

You've got to trust people. And because I am a control freak, sometimes that's difficult for me, because I want to micro-manage absolutely everything. I can't hand over. But I'm trying to do that more.

The American people want to have trust in their leaders.

You have to enable and empower people to make decisions independent of you. As I've learned, each person on a team is an extension of your leadership; if they feel empowered by you they will magnify your power to lead.

When politicians try to govern by raising a wet finger to the wind or on the basis of public opinion polling, the public gets to think that all leaders are interchangeable.

Why employ intelligent and highly paid ambassadors and then go and do their work for them? You don't buy a canary and sing yourself.

A voting record is your work product. It tells people where you stand on issues, and for better or worse it implies you're there doing what you're elected to do. It's the only litmus test available.

If you have excellent people, then you have to give them the power.

A man is not a dictator when he is given a commission from the people and carries it out.

Never delegate. Always empower.

No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?

When you are captain, you are never speaking for yourself.

If you're going to give people authority and hold them responsible and ultimately accountable for their performance, you've got to get out of the way.

If the national coach lets decisions be made from outside, he's lost the team.

If you're a quarterback, you want everything on your shoulders. You want to be the one to make the decisions.

The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap.

Delegating doesn't mean passing off work you don't enjoy, but letting your employees stretch their skills and judgment.

I love to be directed. They can trust me and go.

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

We can't allow our leaders to play the old 'do as I say, not as I do' game.

The great irony of management is that the higher up you go, the less actual control you have. When you are but a humble coder, you make the computer do exactly what you want; when you're a manager, you only hope that people understand what you want, and then trust/pray that they do it both correctly and in a timely manner.

Nobody is going to delegate a lot of power to a secretary that they can't control.

If I started worrying about how my constituents are going to react to every move I make, I wouldn't be able to do my job here. I'll do what I think is right and explain it later.

The way you delegate is that first you have to hire people that you really have confidence in. You won't truly let those people feel a sense of autonomy if you don't have confidence in them.

I think dealing with the U.S. Senate is very different from dealing with the electorate.

All political power is a trust.