Rajeev Suri Quotes

A president, like a college freshman, can't know in advance which questions he'll have to answer or what topics he'll have to master. He has to be flexible, supple, and responsive. He has to be comfortable with multiple-choice.

As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view.

Any leader needs to be constantly interested in what's going on in the world, and constantly ready - even when things are going well - to change.

I am able to ride the bike and think clearly about strategy and tyres. I also have positive thinking. I am very constructively critical.

When the President is a moralist, he needs a process that will make up for the natural shortcomings of such a style—an inattention to second-step thinking, an allergy to detail, a tendency not to see the point of having dissenters, a habit of allowing certainty to override considerations of risk. It is the National Security Advisor’s responsibility to fill a President’s strategic gaps, not to exacerbate them.

Father was bold, and Mother was cautious. They never shouted at each other but argued constantly about strategy, and they taught me very early that before taking big risks, one must carefully figure the odds.

I have to take criticisms, and I will continue to take them for what I think is best for the team.

History rewards those who can change their minds when the stakes are high.

I spend a lot of time bathing in a glow of consensus, but you have to be willing to say something to people who might not agree with you and take the consequences of what follows.

Leadership is solving problems.

He knew when to compromise. Yet he never compromised his principles. He was a militant. Yet a militant who knew how to plan, assess concrete situations and emerge with rational solutions to problems.

We must learn to outgrow our egos in exchange for constructive dialogue rather than debate. In addition, we must be capable of stating problems and proposing solutions clearly and succinctly, without distortion of meaning or misunderstanding, even when these solutions are radically opposed to accepted norms.

Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life

Impulsiveness is not a trait one would choose for a person with the power to launch the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

It would have marked a want of foresight in the convention, which our own experience would have rendered inexcusable.

Chess makes man wiser and clear-sighted.

Cynics criticize and winners analyze.

In any organization there ought to be the possibility of discussion... fence sitting is an art, and it's difficult, and it's important to do, rather than to go headlong in one direction or the other. It's just better to have action, isn't it than to sit on the fence? Not if you're not sure which way to go, it isn't.

When you cannot be deceived by men you will have realised the wisdom of strategy.

Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.

I started playing chess when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It is very good for children to learn to play chess, because it helps them to develop their mental abilities. It also helps to consolidate a person's character, because as it happens both in life and in a chess game we have to make decisions constantly. In chess there is no luck and no excuses: everything is in your hands.

A military mindset is objectively analyzing a planned course of action and anticipating the likely consequences before you take that action.

Sometimes I do have something in my head. But, for me, I think it usually ends up being about considering all of the elements, and trying to understand the distance from where we are to where we want to go.

Every good mathematician should also be a good chess player and vice versa.

I learned how to order my thoughts, and most important, learned how to develop a plan. I discovered the power of a plan. If you can plan it out, and it seems logical to you, you can do it. And that was the secret to success.