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The best leaders are great simplifiers. Often, they are outspoken, politically incorrect and offensive; they don’t worry much about hurt feelings. They focus on goals and action.

George S. Patton lead armies in Africa and Europe in WWII, covering more ground, engaging more of the enemy and suffering fewer casualties and losses than any other commander. Here are some of his thoughts on people and management:

On Success

“By perseverance, and study, and eternal desire, any man can become great.”

“Never stop being ambitious. You have but one life, live it to the fullest of glory and be willing to pay any price.”

“No sacrifice is too great if by it you can attain your goals. Let people talk and be damned. You do what leads to your ambition and when you get the power, remember those who laughed.”

“You are not beaten until you admit it.”

“Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.” “I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but by how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”

“The man who finds twenty dollars on the street or wins it at the slot machine thinks lightly of it, and before long it is as lightly spent. The same man who works and sweats for half a week for that same amount respects it and grudgingly parts with it when he has won it.”

“You must be single minded. Drive for the one thing on which you have decided. You will find that you will make some people miserable; those you love and very often yourself. And, if it looks like you are getting there, all kinds of people, including some whom you thought were loyal friends, will suddenly show up doing their…hypocritical best to trip you up, blacken you, and break your spirit.”

On Supervising and Quality

“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

“Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.”

“We can never get anything across unless we talk the language of the people we are trying to instruct. Perhaps that is why I curse.”

“Officers must assert themselves by example and by voice.”

“Like all commanders, I am constantly faced with the problem of malingering. If it is not checked, it spreads like a prairie fire.”

On Business Leadership

“Always do everything you ask of those you command.”

“Leadership is the thing that wins battles. I have it, but I’ll be damned if I can define it. It probably consists of knowing what you want to do, and then doing it and getting mad as hell if anyone tries to get in your way. Self confidence and leadership are twin brothers.”

“Bradley called up to ask me how soon I could go on the defensive. I told him that I was the oldest leader in age and in combat experience in the United States Army in Europe and that if I had to go on the defensive, I would ask to be relieved. I further suggested that it would be a good thing if some his staff visited the front to see how the other half lived.”

“The more senior the officer, the more time he has to go to the front.”

“The following pun always elicited great applause in the Great War; “If the staff of life is bread, what is the life of the staff? One long loaf!”

“It is really amazing what the determination on the part of one man can do too many thousands.”

“There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and is much less prevalent. One of the most frequently noted characteristics of great men who have remained great is loyalty to their subordinates.”

On Taking Action

“A good plan violently executed right now is far better than a perfect plan executed next week.”

“Throughout history wars have been lost because of armies not crossing rivers.”

“I don’t want to get any messages saying that, “We are holding out position.” We’re not holding anything…We are advancing constantly and we’re not interested in holding on to anything except the enemy…We’re going to hold on to him by the nose and we’re going to kick him…”

“We must keep moving. Do not sit down. Do not say, “I have done enough.” Always see what else you can do to raise hell with the enemy. You must have a desperate determination to continually go forward.”

On Winning the War

“Peace is going to be a hell of a letdown.”

Which of these quotes can you use this week to move your organization forward?

What is your organization’s overall vision? Where are you going to be in three to five years?

What are your specific financial, marketing, sales and operations goals for the current fiscal or calendar year? Do you have a financial plan for the year? Marketing plan? Sales plan? Operations plan?

What is standing in the way of having these plans developed? What is your company theme for the year? Does everyone know what the theme is?

What is your “game plan” on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly basis to help you achieve your goals for the current year? How often is this message communicated to managers? How often is the message communicated to employees?

What is the level of trust that you have with your managers? What is the level of trust within the management team as a whole? Do your managers trust the employees? Do the employees trust the managers?

Are people treated fairly in your company? Does everyone adhere to company rules, policies and procedures? Which managers or employees do not adhere to company norms? What is being done about this?

Are you holding effective meetings that get the results you desire? Are your managers holding effective meetings that get the results that they desire? How often are agendas developed and handed out prior to a company meeting? How often does someone take notes of the decisions made and issues the meeting minutes to those impacted?

What is your organization’s mission statement? Are you still passionate about it? What about your employees? Do they know what the mission is and are they “buying in” to it? Are your employees passionate about the organization’s mission?

Is it acceptable to take risks in the organization? If someone makes a mistake, how is that addressed?

Does open dialog take place at your company? How does this take place? How often does this take place?

Are the people that work at your company being given opportunities to learn and contribute?

Who has the ability within the organization to make decisions and do the right things to achieve goals that all have agreed to?

What does the company training calendar look like? Does it exist? Is every employee being trained or educated on something new on a regular basis or is training exclusive?

Is everyone at the company professional in their behavior, dress and communication to others inside and outside the company?

What are the top five values of the organization? How many people know what they are? How many people abide by them?

Who are your strongest employees? What is being done to make sure that they are happy and motivated?

Who are your weakest employees? What is the plan for them?

Do you have a disaster plan in case of fire, flood, tornado, hurricane, windstorm or earthquake? What is your plan to communicate with employees, clients and suppliers in the event a disaster takes place?

What is your plan to keep the business going and your clients loyal if your facilities are destroyed or rendered useless?

Who are your top five clients? How often is someone from the senior management team from the company in contact with these clients?

Can people at your organization admit they made a mistake? Has anyone ever shared what they learned from a mistake they have made?

Do you have a mentoring program in place for new hires? Those recently promoted? For those that seek to be promoted?

Is your place of employment a cool and fun place to come to work everyday? Are you allowing your managers and employees to be part of something significant? Can your managers and employees grow while working at your company?

Is the company culture an open one, where people freely share information with others in order to get to the desired results?

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