August Musings

• “There is no friend as loyal as a book.” Ernest Hemingway

• “Do not bring me hastily concocted notions. Bring me bonafide concepts and initiatives to make us better. I don’t have time to ‘what if’ your notions for you.” Benson

• “We must lead and manage with tenacity, passion, and an intent to hire and retain exceptional people. That is the essence of success.” Benson

• “The 3 principles of leadership are — decide, explain, and enforce.” General Melvin Zais, US Army “Dispense with the explanation when time is of the essence.” Benson

• On public schools: “It is educational malpractice to pass a student who cannot do the work at his grade level. However, it is also educational malpractice not to offer a curriculum that meets the needs of all students.” Benson

• President Harry Truman never went to college but was a voracious reader and dictated a book on American history. “Not all readers are leaders, but the great leaders are readers.” Benson

• “With some level of assurance we can measure one’s intellect, speed, and strength, but we can’t measure the heart or force of will to succeed, and they are more important than all of the others.” “Executive Courage….” Benson

• Caution and conformity are where you are when you hang out with the fearful crowd that is looking both ways before crossing a one-way street. Adapted from a quote by once Georgia governor and U.S. Marine, Zell Miller

• Country music - 3 chords and the truth. (I don’t know were that one came from but I once used it in a speech.)

• “When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action to take, choose the bolder.” General W.J. Slim (This was my dilemma at 25 years of age when I had to decide whether to stay at Patrick Henry H.S. as a football and baseball coach or join the Marines and go to Viet Nam.)