Lessons in Leadership
One admirable trait great leaders share is taking responsibility for their decisions. In 1945, President Harry S. Truman made perhaps the most difficult one in history: ordering atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki “to shorten the agony of war.” Seven years later, he said: “You know, it’s easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done after the game is over. But when the decision is up before you and on my desk I have a motto which says ‘The Buck Stops Here’ the decision has to be made.” To inspire confidence in your decision-making, here are some additional thoughts from the nation’s 33rd president:
“All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.”
“In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.”
I never sit on a fence. I am either on one side or another.”
“You can always amend a big plan, but you can never expand a little one. I don’t believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can’t possibly foresee now.”
“A president cannot always be popular.”
“It isn’t polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It is right and wrong and leadership – men with fortitude and honesty, and a belief in the right that makes epochs in the history of the world.”
“The president –whoever he is –has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”
“Whenever I make a bum decision, I go out and make another one.”
And, finally, his most famous quote of all:
“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”