Strategic Insight Quotes

My generals are always right about other people’s wars and wrong about our own.

A good general not only sees the way to victory; he also knows when victory is impossible.

Our nation counts on us to have the expertise and the insight to flag the risks and the opportunities that lie ahead, and to keep our eye on all the critical international concerns that face our nation right now.

Knowledge is not for knowing: knowledge is for cutting.

Consultants have credibility because they are not dumb enough to work at your company.

I like knowing about everything, and I think that really helps me in my business.

I think it's really important to look at the big picture instead of just one competition.

I generally read everything about me. Based on my army experience, I think it's the right thing to do. Saddam Hussein didn't read his reviews and thought he was winning the war.

When you find errors in conventional wisdom-when everyone says A and A is not true-you gain competitive advantage. Only a few times do you have to find errors in conventional wisdom to make a living.

What I will miss the most about Guardiola? His obsession with the game and his knowledge, which makes you a better football player.

Capablanca possessed an amazing ability to quickly see into a position and intuitively grasp its main features. His style, one of the purest, most crystal-clear in the entire history of chess, astonishes one with his logic.

Meanwhile, my residence within the Federal lines, and my acquaintance with so many of the officers, the origin of which I have already mentioned, enabled me to gain much important information as to the position and designs of the enemy.

Knowledge is power, if you know it about the right person.

Visit with your predecessors from previous Administrations. They know the ropes and can help you see around some corners. Try to make original mistakes, rather than needlessly repeating theirs.

We believe in the wisdom once expressed by the hockey star Wayne Gretzky, who explained his success by saying, 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.'

If we are going to lead the world, we have to know where it is.

I made my fortune by being able to spot a certain kind of man.

Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.

As the briefer, my job is to carry CIA's best information and best analysis to the president of the United States and make sure he understands it.

There are people who pay attention to the weaknesses of their friends; that is to no avail. I have always closely watched and profited from the strengths of my adversaries.

Some of the best fan mail I get are from our men and women in the military and intelligence communities. They say, 'Boy you do your homework, this is exactly how we're doing it.'

I've really thought a lot about why other companies fail or succeed. I had to be a student of failure and find out why things went off the rails. I did that at a fairly deep level, and it's still something I do.

Assuredly men of merit are never lacking at any time, for those are the men who manage affairs, and it is affairs that produce the men. I have never searched, and I have always found under my hand the men who have served me, and for the most part I have been well served.

We must know more about our adversaries than they know about us.

To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business.