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.
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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.
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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.'
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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
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