Practice Golden-Rule 1 of Management in everything you do. Manage others the way you would like to be managed.

Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

I love that we can trust Barack to do what he says he’s going to do, even when it’s hard – especially when it’s hard.

High office teaches decision making, not substance. It consumes intellectual capital; it does not create it. Most high officials leave office with the perceptions and insights with which they entered; they learn how to make decisions but not what decisions to make.

One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.

A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.

No woman in my time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary – not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 percent.

A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue.

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.

A master performer like Bill Clinton never lost sight of the fact that as president he had to project confidence and power, but if he was speaking to a group of autoworkers he would adjust his accent and his words to fit the audience, and do the same for a group of executives.

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert.

The people of the world genuinely want peace. Some day the leaders of the world are going to have to give in and give it to them.

The issues a president faces are not black and white, and cannot be boiled down into 140 characters. Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military at your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or the tendency to lash out.

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.

If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

When it comes to developing character strength, inner security and unique personal and interpersonal talents and skills in a child, no institution can or ever will compare with, or effectively substitute for, the home’s potential for positive influence.

The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

It’s OK for China to invent cancer drugs that cure patients in the United States. We want them to catch up. But as the leader, we want to keep setting a very, very high standard. We don’t want them to catch up because we’re slowing down or, even worse, going into reverse.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.

The action we take and the decisions we make in this decade will have consequences far into this century. If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.

Being a good listener is absolutely critical to being a good leader; you have to listen to the people who are on the front line.

At the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are.

I can tell you this: If I’m ever in a position to call the shots, I’m not going to rush to send somebody else’s kids into a war.

In my heart, I’m confident I could make a good president.

A President cannot always be popular.

Self-centered leaders manipulate when they move people for personal benefit. Mature leaders motivate by moving people for mutual benefit.

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.

We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.

The time has come for us to draw the line. The time has come for the responsible leaders of both political parties to take a stand against overgrown Government and for the American taxpayer.

International affairs is very much run like the mafia. The godfather does not accept disobedience, even from a small storekeeper who doesn’t pay his protection money. You have to have obedience; otherwise, the idea can spread that you don’t have to listen to the orders, and it can spread to important places.

Every President I think I’ve ever known, except Truman, has thought they didn’t quite get done what they wanted done. And toward the end of their Administrations, they were disappointed and wished they had done some things differently.

One of the things that was really an issue was I did not want to just be a woman secretary of state. I wanted to be a secretary of a state who was a woman, but not just chosen for that particular reason.

When you’re one of the leaders of the team, there are no days off.

Achieving the highest possible return on human capital must be every manager’s goal.

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave.

The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.

When you’re not engaged in the day-to-day struggles that everybody feels, you slowly start losing touch. And I think it’s important for the people in the White House to have a finger on the pulse.

A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.

One of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, mayhem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening.

As president, I’m committed to making Washington work better and rebuilding the trust of the people who sent us here.

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans – born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.

I think that a president needs to have a variety of views presented. But also, there has to be a team effort, because otherwise, I think it creates a dissonance and difficulty.

The true measure of the value of any business leader and manager is performance.

As President Nixon says, presidents can do almost anything, and President Nixon has done many things that nobody would have thought of doing.

Leaders who are kind of insecure or egocentric, they basically sabotage themselves.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

Good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and continually. However, the vision doesn’t come alive until the leader models it.

We must think and act like a nation of a billion people and not like that of a million people. Dream, dream, dream!

He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.