Donald Rumsfeld

Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers. ”

You will launch many projects, but have time to finish only a few. So think, plan, develop, launch and tap good people to be responsible. Give them authority and hold them accountable. Trying to do too much yourself creates a bottleneck. ”

Prune - prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually. ”

If a prospective Presidential approach can't be explained clearly enough to be understood well, it probably hasn't been thought through well enough. If not well understood by the American people, it probably won't 'sail' anyway. Send it back for further thought. ”

Our task, your task... is to try to connect the dots before something happens. People say, 'Well, where's the smoking gun?' Well, we don't want to see a smoking gun from a weapon of mass destruction. ”

The way to do well is to do well. ”

The Secretary of Defense is not a super General or Admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the Department for the Commander-in-Chief and the country. ”

You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe. ”

Test ideas in the marketplace. You learn from hearing a range of perspectives. Consultation helps engender the support decisions need to be successfully implemented. ”

In the execution of Presidential decisions work to be true to his views, in fact and tone. ”