In the 101st Airborne Division headquarters in Mosul, we had a sign on the wall. It was a question that we would ask ourselves before every new operation or policy initiative. It asked: Will this policy or operation take more bad guys off the streets than it creates by its conduct?
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of evaluating the consequences of operations and policies in terms of their effectiveness in reducing harmful elements.
David Petraeus highlights the critical necessity for military and leadership strategy to assess not just the immediate impacts of actions taken, but to consider the broader consequences, particularly how such actions may unintentionally lead to the creation of new threats. This reflective approach encourages leaders to ensure that their initiatives genuinely enhance safety and stability rather than exacerbate issues.
In practice
This quote can be used in a military briefing to emphasize strategic decision-making.
There is nothing I can do to undo what I did. I can only say again how sorry I am to those I let down and then strive to go forward with a greater sense of humility and purpose, and with gratitude to those who stood with me during a very difficult chapter in my life.
I considered our British comrades to rank with the finest men and women of any armed service in the world. And I know that my fellow American soldiers - and those of the other coalition countries under my command - valued very highly the professional expertise, capability, courage, and determination of our British partners on the battlefield.
The idea is to go to bed every night with fewer enemies than you had in the morning.
We periodically note that there are no silver bullets, there are no magic formulas, there's no single action or component of the overall... comprehensive civil-military approach.
At least from a national security standpoint, none of the problems the U.S. and U.K. face will become easier to solve if the U.K. is out of the E.U.; on the contrary, I fear that a 'Brexit' would only make our world even more dangerous and difficult to manage.
When Western politicians propose blanket discrimination against Islam, they bolster the terrorists' propaganda.
Colleagues should take care of each other, have fun, celebrate success, learn by failure, look for reasons to praise not to criticize, communicate freely and respect each other.
The one thing that I know is that you win with good people.
When you try to be a role model, not everybody can relate to some of your highs - awards, championships. But everybody can relate to the lows. Everybody's gotten fired from a job or gotten cut. People learn more about you in those lows than they do in the highs.
If I'm not leading by example, then I'm not doing the right thing. And I want to always do the right thing.
Since the shock of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's death, I have been reflecting on what made him so special. To my mind, it is simply this: Kofi Annan was both one of a kind and one of us.
Your most precious possession is not your financial assets. Your most precious possession is the people you have working there, and what they carry around in their heads, and their ability to work together.
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