Boardroom Strategist Gifts

"I didn't get where I am by trying to please."

"Do we want to just flip a coin, or hire expensive consultants so they can flip a coin?"

'Apparently many companies experience problems including: a lack of direction, poor accountability, lack of respect among members, pushing personal agendas, poor communication ...'

Thanks to compromise they were moving closer.

'Don't let it throw you - It's just a negotiating tactic.'

'Before you go any further, let me reiterate that I, for one, see nothing wrong with killing the messenger.'

"There's a lot of uncertainty out there these days. Or not. Who knows?"

"This month's business meeting is the same as last month's business meeting but with many more problems."

'Legal says we should be fine - provided no one left a paper trail.'

'We are all accountable, but some are more accountable than others.'

'I wanted to get your opinions before I go ahead and do what I want to do.'

One man thinking 'merger', the other thinking 'takeover'.

"A handshake is as good as a thirty-page contract, eh, Mr. Harrison?"

'I know the difference between right and wrong, but it hasn't held me back.'

"It's simple, really. Just figure out what the honorable thing to do is – and make it look like we did it."

'Ok, here's the meeting agenda ... it's gonna be a long one.'

"We were too busy ignoring the warning signs to pay attention to the projected disaster."

"Today's graphic is small and complicated to shield us from the truth a little while longer."

'Don't bother me with facts. Tell me what I want to hear.'

'Sure, a handshake is good enough for me, Hanson, if you don't mind my lawyer looking it over?'

"Well, so far I'm managing to stay above the fray."

"It's not who you know that will help you succeed. It's what you know about who you know, that you can hold over their head."

"Just to get the negotiations off on the right foot, I don't intent to concede anything."

'I move we go on record for fewer imports here and more imports there!'

"Good, we're all agreed. I like it when we're all agreed."

'This is what happens when we give up our resistance to change.'

'Our actual performance over the last quarter depends much on one's perspective. Take, for example, this perspective.'

"Well, we're all in agreement, therefore we must be overlooking something."

'That's 3 votes for 'When Hell Freezes Over'...now, a show of hands for 'When Pigs Fly'.'

"They've agreed to the merger, the sticking point is who is swallowing who?"

'Well done! This works much better.'

"You say it's a win-win, but what if you're wrong-wrong and it all goes bad-bad?"

'We have obligations to our stockholders, our employees and our community - Fortunately, Henderson in legal has found a loophole.'

'How did the 'I want you all to take a pay cut or leave' strategy go down?'

'Just because you're smarter than me doesn't mean I can't always be right.'