Shirley A. DeLibero Quotes

A President in a ... crisis makes, say, 10 bets a day. Maybe I made the wrong choice three times.

In our government we drive decisions either by leadership of by crises. If the leadership is not there, we rely on crises.

Starting a company, your success is going to be very dependent on how you adapt. You're going to make decisions, you're going to make bets; most of them are going to turn out to be wrong.

Business ends up being very dynamic and situational.

People must be realistic when evaluating their business.

There's one thing I've learned about entrepreneurs' business plans. Every one is wrong.

I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.

Part of executive functions is the ability to look to a goal deadline and assess where an organization is in meeting it.

Good plans shape good decisions. That's why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.

It is most difficult to deal with. There are so many plans, so many schemes, and so many reasons why there should be neither plans nor schemes.

[Describing her role:] It's like running a big corporation and a little country at the same time.

I don't get ulcers. I give 'em.

Have you already in your mind a plan wholly or partially formed? If you have, prosecute it without interference from me. If you have not, please inform me, so that I, incompetent as I may be, can try and assist you in the formation of some plan for the army.

I have to take decisions—not back hunches.

Good organization does not necessarily mean it will produce good policy. But bad organization will almost never produce good policy.

A plan must have the assumptions specified.

Forecasting by bureaucrats tends to be used for anxiety relief rather than for adequate policy making.

Military decisions are much more difficult and more often wrong than civilian decisions.

The great problem now is that we don’t know what to do.

The best policymakers know that in start-ups, as in politics, not everything works out exactly as planned.

If you get an opportunity, you get an opportunity, but it really comes down to the people behind the scenes and the manager. You can't do anything about it.

I think I have a pretty decent business savvy, when I give myself room to.

All managers are under pressure. It's our life, always. It's about how we manage the pressure, the victory, we have to manage everything, even me - the bookmakers put me under pressure every time!

I think at times of significant stress people are going to be looking for something and they don't always know exactly what it is that they're looking for and they may opt for change even if they're not entirely confident what that change will bring.

Auto repair, piloting, skiing, perhaps even management: these are skills that yield to application, hard work, and native talent. But forecasting an uncertain future and deciding the best course of action in the face of that future are much less likely to do so. And much of what we've seen so far suggests that a large group of diverse individuals will come up with better and more robust forecasts and make more intelligent decisions than even the most skilled "decision maker."