No matter the organization, the goal, or the mission, you've got to do it through people. It's been that way for me since my first command. I work to understand the people, their views and needs, and how tasks are being carried out.That interaction might cause me to modify my guidance or the way I delegate. It also affords me an opportunity to learn what goals people have and how as their boss I can facilitate their future in ways that not only help them, but also help the ship or the organization.

The mission - the overall mission is to dismantle and defeat and disrupt al-Qaeda. But we have to make sure there's not a safe haven that returns in Afghanistan.

Every Sailor has the potential to lead," said Mullen, "I don't care if it's a seaman recruit or someone higher ranking than myself. Where there's a will, there's a way.

We have to stop the killing. We need to let the refugees - we need to let Syrian citizens go home.

Don't try to run your life through a single straw. Someone, some event, will cut it off.

I think the central mission in Afghanistan right now is to protect the people, certainly, and that would be inclusive of everybody, and that in a, in an insurgency and a counterinsurgency, that's really the center of gravity.

In every war at some point in time, you do sit down and negotiate.