Quotes About Decision-making

Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

One cool judgement is worth a dozen hasty councils. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat.

A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt.

One cool judgment is worth a dozen hasty councils. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat.

One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty councils. The thing is to supply light and not heat

Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise.

I've never had a block. I'm talking within the limits of my abilities. But in my own small way, I've had an embarrassment of riches. I'll have five ideas and I'm dying to do them all. It takes weeks or months where I agonize and obsess over which to do next. I wish sometimes someone would choose for me. If someone said, Do idea number three next, that would be fine. But I have never had any sense of running dry.

Hesitation becomes doubt. Doubt turns into fear. Fear leads to inaction. By then, you're out of the game.

Every person must choose how much truth he can stand.

I don't know who first said it, but this proverb is something I believe: A lion leading a lot of sheep can defeat a sheep leading many lions. The important part is that I must decide when I am a lion and when I must be a sheep. I don't believe you are always one or the other.

There was no factional discipline in the drift towards Rudd. Individuals were making up their own minds. In some worlds, that's how politics works.

After announcing the scheme, Abbott sought with some charm the absolution of his startled party. "Sometimes," he said, "it is better to ask forgiveness rather than permission.

But why must choices always lie along a linear spectrum with two poles instead of say among a sphere of possibilities

Organize your marketing team in this way: You want someone responsible for "getting found" (filling the top of your funnel), someone responsible for "converting" the folks who are getting pulled in, and someone responsible for "analyzing" the numbers and helping you make better decisions.

Would I have fared better if I had stood my ground and stared down my pursuers? Could so-called self-preservation sometimes backfire and become the very cause of pain?

Though not my field, I was familiar with the notion of alternative realities, but was not used to occupying the one I liked the best.

committees can criticize, but they cannot create.

Down with committees Most campaigns are too complicated. They reflect a long list of objectives, and try to reconcile the divergent views of too many executives. By attempting to cover too many things, they achieve nothing. Many commercials and many advertisements look like the minutes of a committee. In my experience, committees can criticize, but they cannot create. 'Search the parks in all your cities You'll find no statues of committees' Agencies

I asked an indifferent copywriter what books he had read about advertising. He told me that he had not read any; he preferred to rely on his own intuition. 'Suppose,' I asked, 'your gall-bladder has to be removed this evening. Will you choose a surgeon who has read some books on anatomy and knows where to find your gall-bladder, or a surgeon who relies on his intuition? Why should our clients be expected to bet millions of dollars on your intuition?

The day after a new business presentation, send the prospect a three-page letter summarizing the reasons why he should pick your agency. This will help him make the right decision.

Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.

It's not Don't kill your host. It's Don't burn your bridges until after you've crossed them.

One final insight about prioritizing involves getting disciplined about what you don't put on the stage. This means not thinking when you don't have to, becoming disciplined about not paying attention to non-urgent tasks unless, or until, it's truly essential that you do.