If there's ever an example that military power alone cannot be successful in Afghanistan, I think it was the Soviet experience.
Robert M. GatesRead
No president is well-served by groupthink or by everybody singing from the same sheet of music they think he's on.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Groupthink limits the effectiveness of leadership by creating a false sense of agreement.
The quote emphasizes that effective leadership requires diverse perspectives and critical thinking. It warns against the dangers of groupthink, where individuals conform to a shared viewpoint without questioning it, which can hinder the decision-making process and lead to poor outcomes for leaders and their organizations.
Themes
LeadershipGroupthinkDecision-MakingDiversityPerspectives
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a leadership seminar to emphasize the importance of encouraging diverse opinions.
More from Robert M. Gates
All quotes βIn my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,' as General MacArthur so delicately put it.
Robert M. GatesRead
I will always be an advocate in terms of wars of necessity. I am just much more cautious on wars of choice.
Robert M. GatesRead
I've been very sensitive for a long time to the repeated pattern, during economic hard times or after a war, of the United States' essentially unilaterally disarming.
Robert M. GatesRead
If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything in recent history, it is the unpredictability of war and that these things are easier to get into than to get out of, and, frankly, the facile way in which too many people talk about, 'Well, let's just go attack them.'
Robert M. GatesRead
There is no international problem that can be addressed or solved without the engagement and leadership of the United States and everybody in the world knows that, its just fact of life. So sometimes I think we could conduct ourselves with a little more humility.
Robert M. GatesRead
Similar quotes
One who is mild rather than forceful has greater capacity for outreach.
Ali Ibn Abi TalibRead
Of all the many leaders I have met in the course of my life, none made a deeper impression on me than Nelson Mandela. His courage, compassion, humility and wisdom were without parallel on the world stage, and he himself was an enduring source of inspiration.
Klaus SchwabRead
In government, our chief executives have been lawyers. The great majority of our cabinets and congresses are and have been men trained in the law. They have provided the leadership and the statecraft and the store of strength when it was needed.
Robert KennedyRead
One of the recurring themes in Marcus' handbook is leadership's responsibility to work intelligently with what it is given and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices.
Marcus AureliusRead
Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.
John F. KennedyRead
A great man left a watchword that we can well repeat: "There is no indispensable man"
Franklin D. RooseveltRead