It take 15,000 casualties to train a major general.
Interpretation
Leadership often requires difficult experiences and significant sacrifices to develop competence.
Ferdinand Foch's quote emphasizes that the journey to becoming a capable leader, particularly in a military context, is fraught with challenges and losses. It suggests that the experiences gained from facing and overcoming adversity, often through painful consequences, are essential for personal growth and effective leadership.
In practice
In a talk about resilience, one might quote Foch to illustrate the costs of leadership.
The military mind always imagines that the next war will be on the same lines as the last. That has never been the case and never will be. One of the great factors on the next war will be aircraft obviously. The potentialities of aircraft attack on a large scale are almost incalculable.
My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.
A battle won is a battle which we will not acknowledge to be lost.
One is defeated only when one accepts defeat.
Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs _x000D_ _x000D_ of those who would be affected by it
I appreciate the fact, and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended more for our country than for me personally.
When we're trying to decide whether a leader is a good leader or a bad one, the question to ask is: 'Is he with the Ten Commandments or is he against them?' Then you can determine if the leader is a true messiah or another Stalin.
I tell young players who want to be coaches, who think they can put up with all the headaches and heartaches, can you live without it? If you can live without it, don't get in it.
You need to have good people: honourable, capable, committed in politics, standing in public office. It's not a guarantee, but it's the ideal we have to aim for.
I think my father thought I might be president of the United States. I think he would've been satisfied with secretary of state. I'm a foreign policy person and to have a chance to serve my country as the nation's chief diplomat at a time of peril and consequence, that was enough.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.