There is only one 'retirement plan' for terrorists.
Jim MattisRead
I've had some 'riotous excursions of the human spirit' alongside the young Sailors and Marines, and it's time to leave the stage to the young leaders who got their rank the old-fashioned way - they earned their stripes in combat.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of youth and experience in leadership roles.
In this quote, Jim Mattis reflects on his experiences alongside younger Sailors and Marines, acknowledging their capabilities and the traditional process through which they earned their ranks. He suggests that it is time for these young leaders, who have proven themselves in challenging situations, to take charge and lead the next generation, highlighting the value of experience and the transition of power to those who have been tested in combat.
In practice
During a graduation speech to military cadets, this quote could inspire them to embrace future leadership roles.
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.
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!
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.
If people aren't clear on what business you're in, what you're trying to accomplish, your values, your goals, then shame on you. It doesn't mean you shouldn't involve them. It's just your responsibility to make sure that that's clear.
It is the right of government to protect the weak; it is the right of the weak to find in their courts fair treatment before the law.
I believe that close association with one who refuses to compromise with circumstances he does not like, is an asset that can never be measured in terms of money.
Servant-leader ship is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them.
Leadership is always about change: it's not about mobilising people to do what they've always done well to continue to do it well.
Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see and listen to what they don't want to hear.
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