Rumsfeld's Rules

Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life

By: Donald Rumsfeld

Narrated by: Donald Rumsfeld

The man once named one of America’s ten “toughest” CEOs by Fortune magazine offers current and future leaders practical advice on how to make their companies and organizations more effective.

Throughout his distinguished career—as a naval aviator, a U.S. Congressman, a top aide to four American presidents, a high-level diplomat, a CEO of two Fortune 500 companies, and the only twice-serving Secretary of Defense in American history—Donald Rumsfeld has collected hundreds of pithy, compelling, and often humorous observations about leadership, business, and life. When President Gerald Ford ordered these aphorisms distributed to his White House staff in 1974, the collection became known as ""Rumsfeld's Rules.""

First gathered as three-by-five cards in a shoebox and then typed up and circulated informally over the years, these eminently nonpartisan rules have amused and enlightened presidents, business executives, chiefs of staff, foreign officials, diplomats, and members of Congress. They earned praise from the Wall Street Journal as ""Required reading,"" and from the New York Times which said: ""Rumsfeld's Rules can be profitably read in any organization…The best reading, though, are his sprightly tips on inoculating oneself against that dread White House disease, the inflated ego.""

Distilled from a career of unusual breadth and accomplishment, and organized under practical topics like hiring people, running a meeting, and dealing with the press, Rumsfeld's Rules can benefit people at every stage in their careers and in every walk of life, from aspiring politicos and industrialists to recent college graduates, teachers, and business leaders.

Great guidelines for leadership.

What made the experience of listening to Rumsfeld's Rules the most enjoyable?

Information that I could use every day in my pursuit of excellence.

What about Donald Rumsfeld’s performance did you like?

The author did a great job of relating his points to the listener.

Outstanding rules to live by

From a lifetime of experience, Donald Rumsfeld has compiled a thoughtful list of rules to live by. I highly recommend spending time to study how these rules might apply to your own life, and even see if there are things about yourself you can change. The rules cover a broad range of topics and provide some clever insights that he's gained from his lifelong experience. I really enjoy the fact that Mr. Rumsfeld narrated this audiobook. This makes the book seem even more personable and applicable.

like him or not

Would you listen to Rumsfeld's Rules again? Why?

this is a book about leadership not politics whether you like Mr, Rumsfeld or not his life has given him a unique opportunity to provide invaluable leadership tips

What other book might you compare Rumsfeld's Rules to and why?

The diametric opposite of this book but in the same category is the 48 Laws of Power

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A great leaders companion

I constantly needed to rewind, and feeling the need to remember the quotes of advice throughout

Usually, people don’t remember the many men who served as Secretary of Defense, unless it’s Robert McNamara or, of course, Donald Rumsfeld. There are people who really despise this man, and there are some who don’t know what to think of him. But all I can say is you can obviously learn a lot from the people you don’t know, but you can almost certainly learn a lot from someone you consider unlikable - if not more. I, on the other hand, always found this man very interesting, and I felt that after reading this book, I learned more about life and people than I ever did from anything I read prior to it. You can always find great advice and enjoyment from where you least expect it. Keep that in mind before passing up the moment to read through this. You will most certainly find yourself rewinding or rereading a chapter in this book. The amount of information and advice throughout this book is immense. Rumsfeld never once, through the entire book, expresses any disdain towards anyone he knew throughout his career; he simply expresses his beliefs as they are. I’ll end this review by saying Donald Rumsfeld is a man you can really learn from, and he also makes you feel that you should step up to the plate in life and go with great momentum. Take these rules that he shares into account, try to sit down and give the book a read. Thanks for reading this if you got this far.

Great Stories Told by a True Leader

I greatly appreciated reading this book. The stories told were so detailed, provided insights to important historical events, and gave perspective on leadership decisions as they unfolded many times on the world stage. Donald Rumsfeld provided our nation (and the world) many positive outcomes where it would have otherwise been led astray. His keen instinct, knowledge, and sense of following process are leadership skills necessary to make the hard decisions he had to make. Thanks for sharing this with the world.