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Jan. 11, 2023 - Doug Collins Podcast
26:12
Rumsfeld’s Rules: What we can learn from Borrowed Wisdom
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You want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
New Year, everybody.
As we're getting in these first couple of weeks, I mean, I normally try to start the year off with some focus, some look ahead, you know, taking some lessons and applying them.
But because of the speaker issue, we've done a lot of that.
And so the last little bit, I've tried to give you the insight into what's happening with the speaker's race, give you the chaos look, let you have the truth in it.
Today, we're going to take a quick swing back, though, toward looking at how, you know, things go on.
One of the things that I have learned and the discussion we're going to have today is a thing called Rumsfeld Rules.
Donald Rumsfeld, if you're watching on Rumble or YouTube, you'll see me holding the book here, Rumsfeld Rules.
Donald Rumsfeld, amazing career from a congressman to a naval aviator to, you know, Secretary of Defense.
I mean, if you just go back through his career, Chief of Staff at the White House, just all kinds of amazing accomplishments.
Some like him, some hate him.
I mean, he is one of those that there's not a lot of middle ground for.
But over years, he put together what he called Rumsfeld's Rules.
And I love how he starts the book and he takes this.
And if you've ever heard him speak, he's passed away now.
But he would say that borrowed wisdom is a wonderful thing.
And I think that is great.
This podcast, I hope, could be considered Borrowed Wisdom.
And because what I try to do is find out things that I've learned.
I'll pass them on to you.
Hopefully, you will digest them, apply them in your way, and you pass them on to somebody else.
That's called Borrowed Wisdom.
It doesn't mean that you have to come up with everything.
It doesn't mean that you have to be the creative person in the room.
It doesn't mean that you have to be the one that thinks of the original quote or idea.
The question is, though, are you well-read?
Are you well-positioned, if you would, to learn?
And I love the quote, borrowed wisdom.
And he starts off, you know, taking him and his own father.
One of the early quotes in the introduction he takes from his father, in which he said his father was off in World War II, and he wrote him saying that he was going to quit Boy Scouts to spend more time playing sports.
And his father sent back in what they call V-mail back then, Victory Mail.
He sent them to say, once you quit one thing, then you can quit something else, and then pretty soon you'll be good at being a quitter.
The advice found its way into my mailbox.
Now, as you look at this, this is the kind of thing that I'm talking about today.
These are not in-depth, you know, life-changing, here's how you do it kind of things, but they're reminders of things in Rumsfeld rules, and there's tons that we're not even going to get to.
We may even do a secondary at some point.
To let you know that just, hey, here's some things, thoughts.
So it's the first of the year.
Let's look at some of these.
The first one that I want to talk about, he is also early in the book, and he talks about his time as a naval aviator.
They were talking about as he was learning to fly in a single-engine propeller plane, he was taught these three things.
If something is going wrong or if you're having trouble, the first thing is to climb, then to conserve, and then...
Confess.
Now let's break these down real quickly.
The first thing is climb, and what he meant by that is a pilot, you get to a higher altitude so you can not only see further, you can try to get a better perspective, but also if something else really failed, you could glide as far as you could to find a safe landing place.
What a great idea for most of us today if we would simply realize that in times of trouble, the first thing we like to do is, if you've heard this term, we've seen it this past week and a half in Congress, they dig in.
The very term digging in means that you're going lower, that you're surrounding yourself, that you're not looking above.
You're looking at your current surroundings and you're saying, hey, I'm only going to deal with what I can see.
Not a good idea, especially if you're having an issue.
The term climb here is to get above it.
For those of you in your issues right now, maybe you're struggling with a job decision.
Maybe you're struggling with a family decision.
Maybe you're struggling in just a decision about life and where you are.
It's time to get above it.
Get above a little bit.
And that don't mean literally if he was in a plane, he'd literally go higher.
Maybe it's for you is to take a lunch break or take a day off on the weekend and just go to sit away from the noise, away from the clutter, away from the decisions that you're thinking you have to make and look at it from a different perspective.
And as you're looking at it from a higher perspective, you can see farther out.
You can see that most things in life are not The terrible nature that you think when you first get involved.
So as you look at this, the first thing you have to do is climb.
The second thing you have to do is conserve.
And as you talked about this, this means conserving, reducing airspeed.
And he talked about leaning out the mixture of the fuel so that you have more time to figure it out.
Maybe you've heard this before, and we talk football a lot here on the podcast, but the greats, so to speak, the Bradys, the Aaron Rodgers, going back to Roger Stalbach, Fran Tarkin, Steve Young, you just named the greats of quarterbacking.
They slow the game down.
Other players do this as well.
Defensive backs in baseball, they slow the game down.
A hitter can slow the game down to where he sees the ball coming at him as if it's almost twice its size instead of the baseball that it is.
And really, this is sort of what he's talking about here.
First climb so you can get a look, then conserve.
Slow it down if you can.
Slow down the process.
Quit looking to always make a quick decision.
Snap decisions are not the best all the time.
And so sometimes you need to conserve that energy a little bit.
If you don't have to make a decision right now, then climb above it, start looking around, bring in ideas, look at the horizon, and then start slowing it down.
Slow the world down.
When you slow the world down, you get a chance to have a better perspective.
You're not missing things as you go by.
The third of which is confess.
Climb, conserve, and confess.
And the confess meant get on the radio promptly and announce to all who might be listening, I'm lost and I need help.
Okay?
So if you're lost, you're struggling, it's not bad to bring in other people.
It's not bad to let the world know, hey, I don't have it all together right now.
I'm struggling to find the solution that I need to find.
And so if you're giving yourself some room to look, you're conserving your sort of your fuel, you're slowing the world down.
And you're bringing in good help.
Now, again, one of the things that you don't need to bring in is somebody who will simply agree with you.
This is somebody and people that you need to listen to or follow that will challenge you to say, okay, where are you at?
Are you looking ahead?
Are you not?
They care about you, but at the same time, they're also not willing to make a snap decision about where you're at.
And I think these are the people that you need to say, hey, I need some help.
Would you give me advice?
Here's where I'm at.
Here's the cards that I've been dealt.
What do you think?
That different perspective is always a good perspective to have.
Now, you may not agree with that perspective.
It's fully your choice.
Remember, if you're lost, you're not sure about the future, you're climbing to get a better perspective, you're conserving, you're trying to slow it down.
I mean, this is the kind of stuff that we do every day in our life.
And so, again, you may not agree, and you're free to make your own choice, So, you know, look, look at it from that perspective.
I think it's a great place to start some of these rules.
I'm going to run through these.
We're not going to go in depth.
It's early in the year.
I wanted to give you just some fun ones to think about, but I think if you can get past climb, conserve, and confess, you're going to have a lot better angle on this.
The next one of the Rumsfeld rules goes back to a little bit of what we discussed about borrowed wisdom.
Now, In borrowed wisdom, you look around and you take tidbits and you learn from them.
I had an old seminary professor who, in seminary when I was there, that made this statement about preaching.
And he said this, he said, graze where you want, just give your own milk.
I laughed at that.
I still laugh at it today when I prepare speeches or I prepare sermons or I look at...
And that is what he's saying is it's okay to learn from other people.
And it's okay to synthesize that down into new knowledge for you But then at the end of the day, what does it mean to you?
Give your own milk.
In other words, don't just simply say and agree with somebody else without your own critical thought going into it.
Because what happens is if you take somebody else's knowledge, You access to them, and this happens so many times at motivational seminars.
It happens at sales seminars.
I used to work for a company that made us go to read and do all the sales training books we could.
We could listen to them on tape.
They would pay for us to go hear Zig Ziglar and Brian Tracy and all these folks as they came in to teach us how to be better salespeople.
Well, that's all good if you incorporate it into who you are.
If you're trying to be a Zig Ziglar, you're trying to be a Brian Tracy, you're trying to be a Grant Cardonis now, or you're trying to be a Gary Vee, or you're trying to be any of these people these days, who give out all this advice, but it's not you, you're not incorporating it, you're not bringing it into who you are and changing it and making it and molding it into what you can be, then it's not going to work, folks.
So, again, learn from those who've been there before.
I'm amazed at how many times, and we see this in younger people, we probably all did it when we were younger, and if you're younger listening to this, don't take this as an offense, just take it as an encouragement.
How many times have you gone to ask somebody who's never done what you're asking them, but you're looking for their advice?
You know, going into a new job, taking on a new home, getting married, getting into a relationship, and yet you go to people who've never done any of it.
First red flag.
You need to actually go to those people who have actually had some experience.
May not be the same experience, may not be what you're actually, you know, completely, but if they have some experience, they can offer that to you.
And if you do that, then you've got a better chance of finding the solutions for you.
Number three, disagreement is not out of the Rumsfeld rules.
Disagreement is not disloyalty.
This one is hard for especially new managers and business owners and even politicians to understand.
If you go back into and was to ask people in my office that work for me in Congress...
One of the things that they will tell you, I believe, to this day, is that they had every right to give their opinion.
They had every right to disagree with me.
From my senior staff on down, they had every right to input and to be a part.
If I wanted to do one thing, and I can remember several times that I was looking at a decision, and I would ask...
You know, for their advice.
And in looking at their advice, I would take their advice.
And on occasions, I would have my mind changed.
Or at least give a new perspective.
Why?
Because I didn't have yes people around.
I didn't have people, yes, say, Doug, oh, that's the greatest decision in the world.
Let me just go do it.
No.
We had some knockdown drag guys.
I had staff members who actually walked out office.
They only did that once.
But, you know, we had...
Hefty discussions.
Why?
Because not everybody has...
You don't have a lock on the best ideas.
And especially in politics, and especially in life, and especially in business, you know, look, people who disagree with you are not necessarily your enemies.
Now, if it gets to the point where they then go around you after a decision has been made, or they're talking about their disagreements with you, like in a relationship, folks, I'm going to tell you right now, I've counseled many, many married couples.
Do not, do not, do not take your grievances with your spouse to someone, and especially of the opposite sex.
Don't do it.
And I know I may get some emails about that one, but folks, let me tell you, that is the, I mean, it is just, I wish I could say scientifically approved, but over and over and over again, it just is true.
You know, if you have a disagreement, especially in a spousal or a long-term relationship issue, you need to deal with that person.
And, you know, keep talking it out until you can find a solution, but don't go get help or advice from somebody who's just going to blow you up or help you out, especially if they're not related to you or especially if it could lean itself into something else.
That's just something that you need to be aware of.
But disagreement is good.
Yes, people are not good for you all the time.
Is it good to have your, you know, oh...
Doug or old Susie or old Bill, you're the greatest decision I've ever made.
How do you keep coming up with great ideas?
In the end, that doesn't help you.
Folks, where most of you will learn in life is that your best learning applications are when you can make a decision and then you can...
Take it for all advice and be a part of making a good decision.
I would rather have a good decision in which I started out in one, had people with good intentions, good motives, and good facts to change my mind than to let me go off and make a bad decision.
So, as we look at it, disagreement is not disloyalty.
Okay, so if you're looking at this, you know, look, you don't need yes people around you all the time.
You need people who will actually give you good advice, be willing to, you know, be true to their principles, but also being helpful to the team.
I think you can all determine that when disagreement is tearing down and not building up, but disagreement in and of itself is not disloyalty.
Great point to make.
Number four, if in doubt, You know, don't.
But if still in doubt, then do what is right.
And I think this is a great Rumsfeld rule for just some of us to think about for a minute.
If you think about this, if you're in doubt, don't.
How many times, and this is a hard one, okay?
And I'll freely admit this one.
Because sometimes you just doubt because it's a new item.
It takes you out of your comfort zone a little bit.
It maybe just makes you uncomfortable.
Yeah.
But I think the second half of this actually gets it.
So if in doubt, don't.
But if it's still in doubt, then do what is right.
Now, this is something to think about, especially for many of you in this time of the year, people are making decisions about new careers, new possibilities, and there's always a measure of doubt.
A good friend of mine one time explained this to me and said that there's always a semblance of Where your willingness to move is.
Okay?
In other words, to make a decision.
For some of you, you need a lot, a lot of info.
I mean, in other words, you need that, you know, you got to have what we'd say a 90% surety of something's going to be right.
You know, one place to move.
You know, if you have 90% of all the facts in place, you've got everything there.
And simply, it's really not even almost a stretch at that point.
It's just simply you taking a next step, knowing that everything's going to be okay.
Then that may be your comfort zone.
For some of you, you know, you're wing it.
You do it out of the day.
You wake up in the morning and say, oh, whatever the day holds, I'll be good.
And you may have, like, you only need about 40 or 50%.
You know, like, hey, that sounds like a good restaurant.
Well, does it have any food?
Well, yeah, it does.
I'm just going to go.
Most of us probably pan out somewhere in between there, but what you really need to find, and I think this is a great part of this, if in doubt, don't, and if still in doubt, do what is right, actually comes in.
Find your comfort level and understand, you know, for some of you, You hear the world say, be sure, be certain, and all that.
Well, if you're 80% of certainty, if you can work off of making it as you go, maybe it not being exactly what you thought to start with, but yet actually having enough to go for it, then go for it.
Do what is right.
If it's right, you know it's right, it's not morally wrong, then do it.
But if you're in doubt and you can't find that path, if you're in doubt and your certainty level is not there or you're not sure exactly if it's a right or wrong, then the best part is if in doubt, don't.
But if you have to make a decision, I mean, one of those things where you just, you know, there's no putting it off.
You got to do it.
You can't do a lot.
We talked about earlier, climb, conserve, and confess.
You know, you just got to make it.
Then always go back to your moral compass of doing what is right and something that you can then live with and explain to other people.
One of the guiding principles I tried to have in my time in public service and elected office was, is every vote I take that I'm Comfortable number one with myself, that I'm able to explain why I did it and live with that.
It doesn't mean that sometimes I wish I had maybe found a better idea or not, but yet when I made the vote and then tried and explained the vote when I was asked about it, I was able to tell people this is why.
And they could agree or disagree, but I at least had my why.
Rumsfeld also very much known for an interesting saying, and it came about, as you saw in the Gulf War, and that was the unknown unknown.
In other words, what he was trying to prepare us for was surprises.
And really, the only unexpected thing is not really unexpected, and it is a surprise.
The things that you don't see and don't prepare for are the things that will many times be the things that trip you up.
They'll be the things that cause you a problem.
If you're a boss, it'll be the worker who's never given you a day's trouble in their life and all of a sudden they quit showing up for work for two days and don't call in.
It's the Things that you don't expect.
Your main customer who's been loyal to you for 40 years all of a sudden says, I'm going to try something new.
It's always the unexpected in a battlefield.
It's not just what the enemy would do.
It's maybe something that got thrown into the mix.
All of these issues will...
Tend to give us the fact that the unexpected is really the expected.
It's being ready.
Now, how do you deal with that?
And I think one of the things Rumsfeld goes through into the book is preparation.
It's preparation to all that you can control.
And I think this is what he's really saying here.
He said, look, I'm going to control everything I know.
But the unknown unknown, that unknown thing that I can't tell you what it's going to be, the unknown thing that may come up and be a part that I can't point my finger at, I'm not going to waste time at this second worrying about it, but I'm going to know it's there.
I'm not going to commit to something that may happen that I can't control, but everything within my power, I'm going to control.
Everything within my power, I'm prepared for.
Everything that I can understand, I can see.
And what he found was, and what I think he's saying here, and going back to this borrowed wisdom issue, is that many times what is unexpected may be unexpected, but you've prepared for it.
If you're doing all the things that you're doing to keep your business, your personal life, your family, your spiritual life, whatever it may be, if you're doing those things to keep them where they need to be, then the unknowns can be woven in easier to your knowns.
And this is just something that all of you have to deal with.
And what I have found is the more we're hit with unknowns, those unexpected occurrences in life, You know, like, for example, one of the things that I hear all the time is, unexpectedly, my car broke down.
Okay, I wouldn't really classify that as an unknown unknown.
I think that is classified as a just-when unknown.
And so if you're preparing to know, hey, I need to save aside some money and savings for emergencies, then you can prepare for those unknowns.
Many times, though, you're going to get hit with something, you know, a death in the family, a shocking business close, something...
And what I believe you really have to come back to here is what is the basics in your life?
What is those fundamental principles that keep you going, that you prepared for, that you can then fall back on those when you're trying to face something unknown?
And then when you're facing unknown, what do you do?
Go back to one of the first things we actually talked about.
You climb up.
You conserve your time.
Try to slow the game down, so to speak.
And then you confess.
You talk to people that you really know.
Last thing I want to talk about today is sort of simple, sort of short, but I put it in here, and it is nothing will be attempted at all if possible objections must be overcome first.
If all possible objections must be overcome first, you're never going to do anything.
Again, it sort of goes back to what we were talking about in just a minute about if in doubt, don't, and if still in doubt, do what's right.
I want to just touch this base again.
Too many of us sit there and say, I want every possible scenario worked out before I'll commit to something.
Folks, nothing will ever get done.
And I threw this one after the other one because the unknown is going to be there.
There's an unknown unknown that you just don't know.
And as a good friend of mine, Chip Blake, who's been on the podcast before, we talked about in politics, he said you have the bucket of things that you can control, and then you have the things you can't control.
He said the only thing you can focus on is the things that you can control.
So for those of you out there who are making decisions, New Year, looking at jobs, careers, cars, whatever it may be, focus on the things that you know.
And don't think that you can solve every possibility in the world.
Get the most you can.
Get to that level that we talked about a few minutes ago.
If it's 90%, then get to your 90%.
If it's 80%, get to your 80%.
If it's 40%, get to your 40% and just go at it.
These are all things in life that make sense.
So Rumsfeld Rules, not just for politics, not just for life and business, it's for every day.
And we may come back to some of these in the future, but I thought it'd be a great time to take a little bit of a break from the craziness and chaos of Speaker's Race and chaos and craziness of what is going on on Capitol Hill right now, just also to take some time for ourselves just to say, hey, here's where we're at, here's where we need to be, and then you can't.
Help us out.
Share this podcast.
Maybe you got somebody, a friend that you know that could use these advice.
Share it with them.
Just send them a text.
Send them an email.
Say, hey, you don't want to subscribe to this podcast, the Doug Collins Podcast.
Be a part of it.
It'll help us grow.
2023 is going to be a great year.
Looking forward to having you with us.
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