Book Excerpts: Buck Up, Suck Up . . . and Come Back When You Foul Up

Excerpts from the book: Is my series where I share some highlights and notes I made while reading some book that I think is good, thought provoking and worth sharing.

Buck Up, Suck Up . . . and Come Back When You Foul Up: 12 Winning Secrets from the War Room
The political strategists who directed the Clinton campaign's War Room reveal the lessons and secrets from their hard-fought battles -- and how to use these highly effective strategies for success in business and everyday life. 

• The bottom line is that if you’re faster, smarter and more aggressive than the other guy (or gal), you’re going to win more often than not.
• So we don’t believe that brains or personality or good fortune are the most important attributes in a winner. Perseverance. Toughness. Tenacity. Those are the qualities that make the difference.
• You won’t believe how far you can go if you simply refuse to quit.
• One of the reasons that people who persevere often succeed in the end is that they put themselves in a position to win.
• The easiest way to be undefeated is to never compete. But folks who don’t try, who don’t fight, who don’t compete are losers already.
• But you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.
• Knowing what to do is not that hard. What separates the successful from the mediocre is the ability to get other people to do what you need them to do.
• But the purpose of leadership is to get adults—smart, competent adults—to stay with you and to follow you. You’ve got to create a culture, a philosophy that makes people feel as if they’re part of something important—and that they themselves are important.
• the more forward momentum you have, the harder it is to knock you over. But if you’re just barely moving, or trying to stand still, even the slightest push will make you tumble.
• Planning is important. Strategy is vital. Thinking through the consequences of both victory and defeat is crucial. Training and preparation are essential. But at some point you gotta pull the damn trigger. And when you do pull the trigger, you can’t hesitate.
• Do something … now. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t work, do something else. But do something—quickly.
• The objective is the broad goal. Strategy is the plan of action for achieving the goal. And tactics are the various steps you take to get there.
• So much of the energy of a campaign—or of any other enterprise—goes into the small questions, the “how” questions. Not nearly enough goes into the big, existential questions like “What are we doing?” and “Why are we doing it?” Those questions seem simple. And they are. But simplicity and importance are not mutually exclusive. It’s been our experience that those simple questions are the hardest to answer and the easiest to avoid.
• If There’s Something Bad to Be Said About You, Say It Yourself
• You show up. You do your job. You strive for a level of perfection. Then you get up in the morning and do it all over again
• Hard work can make up for a lot—lack of innate genius, grating interpersonal skills, even ugly scars and tattoos. But without a strong work ethic, even the geniuses, the charmers and the folks with flawless skin wind up losers.
• Remember: Once you’ve won, the goal is not to gloat; it’s to win another one. Do everything you can to set your-self up for another victory. Do nothing that will make your next effort more difficult.
• Only pick battles that are: a) winnable; b) important; c) battles for which you’re fully prepared to pay the price to win; and d) battles that you’re damn sure you can afford to win.