Quotes About Decision-making

Asking 'Who ought to be the boss' is like asking 'Who ought to be the tennor in the quartet' Obviously, the man who can sing tenor.

It is inevitable that any one who can borrow freely to cover errors of management will borrow rather than correct the errors.

A person's conscience will object and accuse when an action may be harmful to themselves and others.

High office teaches decision-making, not substance…. A period in high office consumes intellectual capital; it does not create it.

No country can act wisely simultaneously in every part of the globe at every moment of time.

To undertake a journey on a road never before traveled requires character and courage: character because the choice is not obvious; courage because the road will be lonely at first. And the statesman must then inspire his people to persist in the endeavor.

Moreover, events often move too quickly to allow for precise calculation; leaders have to make judgments based on intuitions and hypotheses that cannot be proven at the time of decision. Management of risk is as critical to the leader as analytical skill.

Statesmen are not called upon only to settle easy questions. These often settle themselves. It is where the balance quivers, and the proportions are veiled in mist, that the opportunity for world-saving decisions presents itself.

Since it is impossible to be prepared for all eventualities, the assumption of the opponent's perfect flexibility leads to paralysis of action

Para el líder, la gestión del riesgo es tan crítica como la capacidad de análisis.

The issues are too important to be left for the voters.

The wrong place to start is to hire familiar people who are in your comfort zone—good buddies, but not the best in their skill set. Such people are difficult to fire and hard to manage.

The operating is the easy part, you know,' he said. 'By my age you realize that the difficulties are all to do with the decision-making.

Daniel Kahneman's book Thinking, Fast and Slow,

How different the new order would be if we could consult the veteran instead of the politician.

Managing is about nuance as much as it is about decisiveness.

A good part of the work of managing involves doing what specialists do, but in particular ways that make use of the manager's special contacts, status, and information.

I have not the smarts or patience for political office.

Napoleon, the man of genius, did this! But to say that he destroyed his army because he wished to, or because he was very stupid, would be as unjust as to say that he had brought his troops to Moscow because he wished to and because he was very clever and a genius

Vronsky's life was particularly happy in that he had a code of principles, which defined with unfailing certitude what he ought and what he ought not to do. This code of principles covered only a very small circle of contingencies, but then the principles were never doubtful, and Vronsky, as he never went outside that circle, had never had a moment's hesitation about doing what he ought to do.

I ragionamenti lo portavano a dubbi e gli impedivano di vedere quel che si doveva e quel che non si doveva fare. Quando invece non pensava, ma viveva, sentiva incessantemente nell'animo suo la presenza d'un giudice infallibile che decideva quale di due azioni possibili fosse migliore e quale peggiore, e, appena agiva non così come si doveva, lo sentiva immediatamente.

Before any definite step can be taken in a household, there must be either complete division or loving accord between husband and wife.

Never, never marry, my dear fellow! That's my advice: never marry till you can say to yourself that you have done all you are capable of, and until you have ceased to love the woman of your choice and have seen her plainly as she is, or else you will make a cruel and irrevocable mistake. Marry when you are old and good for nothing—or all that is good and noble in you will be lost. It will all be wasted on trifles. Yes!

People who are given to deliberating on their actions generally find themselves in a serious frame of mind when it comes to embarking on a journey or changing their mode of life. At such moments one reviews the past and forms plans for the future.