Donald Rumsfeld

In this week’s “A Reagan Forum” we look back to May 21, 2013 when we hosted Donald Rumsfeld, who, over the course of his life served as a Member of Congress, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, White House Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense twice -- the only such example in U.S. history -- and literally a dozen or more important federal advisory roles. Sometime in the 1960s, Donald Rumsfeld began collecting pithy, compelling and often humorous observations about leadership, business and life, gathering them on three-by-five cards and storing them in a shoebox. As his career skyrocketed over time, what started out as scribblings in a shoebox eventually migrated their way to memos, grew sizably and have been distributed widely in one format or another to those who have had the privilege to work with him over the years. In 2013 they were captured in a book, entitled Rumsfeld’s Rules and organized in such a way that they will prove to be priceless pointers to everyone looking to lead in life, from college graduates to business leaders to aspiring public servants. During his remarks at the Reagan Library he discussed those rules.