"Presidential greatness is combining policy and politics to win significant victories that have a major impact on the trajectory of national life. Such victories--which upset the status quo--only occur when a president takes political risks and is willing to incur short-term unpopularity with significant segments of the electorate."

"The lesson for public officials is clear. There is virtually no zone of privacy for
questionable person acts. People in positions of influence proceed at their peril. Power
may be the ultimate aphrodisiac, but there is now no place to hide."

"LBJ's combination of vision, timing, skill and courage is reminder, on a grand scale, that getting important things done is vastly more important than anodyne political or bureaucratic survival or personal accretion of wealth."

"Toyota's severe problems stem as much from poor crisis management as from poor product quality. In all industrial companies, problems may develop in products. The question is: How does the business respond? When products have serious potential safety issues like Toyota's sticking accelerator pedal, then crisis management becomes the company's stress test."

"The BAE and Siemens cases are symbols of pervasive corruption across the globe and lack of senior leadership making anti-corruption an international imperative. Bribery and extortion in public sector activities--especially in the developing world--distorts competition, erodes legitimacy and rule of law, impedes economic growth, thwarts building of institutional infrastructure, injures the poor and supports criminals and terrorists who pose a threat to world order."

"Developing consensus within the military on how to implement a non-discrimination rule is key to securing support within the armed forces, winning congressional assent and sustaining the current majority approval of openly gay service (as reflected in public opinion polls)."

"The headline in the New York Times story from the World Economic Forum read: "Leaders in Davos Admit Drop in Trust." No kidding!"

"It is profoundly in the self-interest of private sector leadership energetically to implement these six "must do's" in order to answer powerfully the legitimate criticisms of board and senior executive decision-making in recent years."

"So, we are left to ponder the ageless paradox of the Supreme Court in substituting its value choices for those of the democratically elected legislature. Such value choices are, of course, also made by liberal majorities. But the paradox is especially consequential here because of the time and effort spent by Congress in trying to find bipartisan remedies to festering problem of money in politics. And it is especially striking because these broad value choices (cloaked of course in a supposedly straightforward application of First Amendment jurisprudence) comes from the supposedly "conservative" wing of the Supreme Court, all of whom are, at many different times, such staunch advocates of judicial restraint."

"The role of shareholders in corporate governance has become one of the hot-button issues following the credit melt-down and economic crisis. Would more active involvement by shareholders have helped to prevent or lessen the crisis?"