Only when you have got a clear statement of what you want to achieve, do you ask yourself how you are going to achieve it. In the military we are taught never to go for a single answer, no matter how obvious that might be.

Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands for the probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired. Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.

Being in charge sometimes means making people mad. Some days you have to overrule even the best advice, because you think it is not right.

You have to create circumstances where your first-tier leader knows what you are trying to accomplish, because he is the one who's going to get it done.

We can seldom get our children to do what we tell them, but they almost never fail to imitate us.

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

I don't think we handled the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad as well as we might have. But that's now history.