There is only one 'retirement plan' for terrorists.
Jim MattisRead
Now from a distance, I look back on what the Corps taught me: to think like men of action, and to act like men of thought!
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the balance between decisive action and thoughtful consideration.
Jim Mattis reflects on the lessons learned from his experience in the military, highlighting the importance of combining strong action with careful thought. This philosophy encourages individuals to make decisive choices while remaining reflective and strategic, fostering effective leadership that values both courage and intellect.
In practice
In a leadership workshop, this quote can be used to inspire attendees to balance action with thoughtful planning.
There is only one 'retirement plan' for terrorists.
There are hunters, and there are victims. By your discipline, cunning, obedience, and alertness, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim.
I believe that many of my young guys lived because I didn't waste their lives because I didn't have the vision in my mind of how to destroy the enemy at least cost to our guys and to the innocents on the battlefields.
For whatever trauma came with service in tough circumstances, we should take what we learned - take our post-traumatic growth - and, like past generations coming home, bring our sharpened strengths to bear, bring our attitude of gratitude to bear.
Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.
It's very hard to live with yourself if you don't stick with your moral code.
Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.
The leaders of the future will be those who dare to claim their irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation.
Social-sector organizations have to be better managed than for-profit organizations... because they have no margin of error.
Once more, I am watching the most powerful men in the kingdom bring their power to bear on a woman who has done nothing worse than live to the beat of her own heart, see with her own eyes; but this is not their tempo nor their vision and they cannot tolerate any other.
Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes.
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.
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