Eliot A. Cohen > Quotes

“Much of leadership is knowing whom to select, whom to encourage, whom to restrain, and whom to replace.”
― Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen and Leadership in Wartime

“Since 1870 a commander has seldom if ever been able to survey a whole battlefield from a single spot; and in any case he has had little opportunity—although sometimes a considerable inclination—to try. For the modern commander is much more akin to the managing director of a large conglomerate enterprise than ever he is to the warrior chief of old. He has become the head of a complex military organization, whose many branches he must oversee and on whose cooperation, assistance, and support he depends for his success. As the size and complexity of military forces have increased, the business of war has developed an organizational dimension that can make a mighty contribution to triumph—or to tragedy. Hitherto, the role of this organizational dimension of war in explaining military performance has been strangely neglected. We shall return to it later—indeed, it will form one of the major themes of this book. For now we simply need to note its looming presence.”
― Eliot A. Cohen, Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War

“An irascible man who understood his own character, he would hold off on any personnel decision for twenty-four hours, allowing his judgment to dominate his temper.”
― Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen and Leadership in Wartime

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities … because it is the quality which guarantees all others,” Churchill said.”
― Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen and Leadership in Wartime