Statecraft Strategist Gifts

Otto von Bismarck

'If I had to use one word to describe our strategy.'

'And were there a point to your proposal, Henderson - What would it be?'

"Forget five-year plans. Let's just figure out how to make it to lunch."

'Williams, we're not used to receiving such excellent ideas as these, so we'd like to tone them down a bit.'

The Businessmen Have to Make Decisions from Many Options

"Yeah, but that one's a little bit hard to reach."

'Which 'win' is ours? Because the one on the left looks bigger.'

A fight in the Boardroom.

"I don't like getting bogged down in details. I'm more of a big-picture guy."

"'Quid pro quo' is a no-no, Bradbury. Around here we say 'reciprocal altruism'."

'It has come to my attention that we need to hedge against our five-year plan.'

"Gentlemen, I'm pleased to say the firm is perfectly positioned to avoid chapter eleven and still be in existence this time next year."

Nothing Succeeds Like Confidence.

'They all want to play the star.'

"The trend in tough economic times is to put off everything that doesn't require immediate action ? as this chart shows."

'Smith, we need more creativity. You have to learn to think outside the box.'

"Any questions?"

'Ah, Galagher, we made good use of your proposal.'

'Now, keep in mind that these numbers are only as accurate as the fictitious data, ludicrous assumptions and wishful thinking they're based upon!'

"Dammit, Johnson. You've got to start thinking outside of the box."

"...but the big question is, does the competition know that we don't know what we don't know?"

Empty box of ideas

Eureka!

"We have an acronym!"

"#Win!"

'I want you to paddle against the current.'

Bright idea

A presenter with a very complex chart to explain a business plan - 'And it's as simple as that!'

'Fred, I want you to sanitize this, punch it up, dumb it down, leak it to the media and then be fully prepared to deny it!'

"Is it just a scary coincidence that the words 'changes' and 'unknown' both have 7 letters?"

After a day long meeting, the decision, as usual, is made in the hallway.

'Charlotte's Website' ('The children's book classic rewritten for the electronic era!')

"Quit stalling, Smithers. Where's the SALES chart?"

'I think we'd be more confident about meeting our targets if we could work out what they were!'