Backbone Quotes

“The essence of loyalty is the courage to propose the unpopular, coupled with a determination to obey, no matter how distasteful the ultimate decision. And the essence of leadership is the ability to inspire such behavior.”
― Julia Dye, Backbone: History, Traditions, and Leadership Lessons of Marine Corps NCOs

“Leaders have many tools at their disposal to increase loyalty, such as backing up their people when they are right, correcting them in private when they are wrong, and publically criticizing neither superiors nor subordinates.”
― Julia Dye, Backbone: History, Traditions, and Leadership Lessons of Marine Corps NCOs

“A leader expresses loyalty to his subordinates by supporting their needs and ensuring their welfare in a number of ways. Subordinates express loyalty to that sort of caring leadership by positively and efficiently carrying out the leader’s orders or instructions.”
― Julia Dye, Backbone: History, Traditions, and Leadership Lessons of Marine Corps NCOs

“the value of continual training and personal skill development, straightforward and honest speech, and a pride in their mission which had come to be defined for the first time in official manuals: “To support combat operations by delivering precise fire on selected targets from concealed positions.”
― Julia Dye, Backbone: History, Traditions, and Leadership Lessons of Marine Corps NCOs

“Without unselfishness, it may be difficult to be dependable.”
― Julia Dye, Backbone: History, Traditions, and Leadership Lessons of Marine Corps NCOs

“Make sound and timely decisions. To make a sound decision, you should know your mission, what you are capable of doing to accomplish it, what means you have to accomplish it, and what possible impediments or obstacles exists (in combat, these would be enemy capabilities) that might stand in the way. Timeliness is almost as important as soundness. In many military situations, a timely, though inferior, decision is better than a long-delayed, though theoretically correct, decision.”
― Julia Dye, Backbone: History, Traditions, and Leadership Lessons of Marine Corps NCOs

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” —Theodore Roosevelt”
― Julia Dye, Backbone: History, Traditions, and Leadership Lessons of Marine Corps NCOs

“… listening does not mean simply maintaining a polite silence while you are rehearsing in your mind the speech you are going to make the next time you can grab a conversational opening. Nor does listening mean waiting alertly for the flaws in the other fellow’s arguments so that later you can mow him down.”
― Julia Dye, Backbone: History, Traditions, and Leadership Lessons of Marine Corps NCOs