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About this quote

What does it mean?
A leader shows genius by matching goals to available resources and avoiding overreach or underreach. Doing just enough shows skill and judgment.
In plain terms
A general shows genius by matching goals to resources and doing the right amount.
What can you take from it?
Match goals to resources and avoid doing too much or too little.

Where it applies

  • military command
  • project management
  • executive leadership

Putting it to work

  • assess resources honestly
  • set realistic goals
  • review plans for balance

Questions to consider

  • How do you balance ambition and resources?
  • When did doing less help more?

Another view

Sometimes doing more or less than planned is needed due to sudden changes.

More from Karl von Clausewitz

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  2. What we should admire is the acute fulfillment of the unspoken assumptions, the smooth harmony of the whole activity, which only become evident in the final su…

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  3. Thus it has come about that our theoretical and critical literature, instead of giving plain, straightforward arguments in which the author at least always kno…

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