The essence of power is the knowledge that what you do is going to have an effect not just an immediate but perhaps a lifelong effect on the happiness and wellbeing of millions of people and so I think the essence of power is to be conscious of what it can mean for others.

Bob Hawke

Categorized in : Thinking Mean Leadership

The things which are most important don’t always scream the loude... by Bob Hawke

The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest.

scream important

By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty. by Bob Hawke

By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty.

australian poverty children

Do you know why I have credibility? Because I don't exude moralit... by Bob Hawke

Do you know why I have credibility? Because I don't exude morality.

morality credibility knows

I just loved him and he loved me... He was a most humble man, the most decent man I've ever met in my life and he always looked for the best in people to find positives and he said something to me that always remained with me. He said if you believe in the fatherhood of God you must necessarily believe in the brotherhood of man, it follows necessarily and even though I left the church and was not religious, that truth remained with me.

religious love believe

I find a fence a very uncomfortable place to squat my bottom. by Bob Hawke

I find a fence a very uncomfortable place to squat my bottom.

squat uncomfortable fence

In sum, the truth is that we luxuriate in the comfortable assertion that women enjoy equality. We have salved our consciences by eliminating the more obvious discriminations like unequal rates of pay for work of equal value. But, in fact, we have not eliminated the inheritance of the millennia that women are lesser beings, an inheritance which still manifests itself in a whole range of prejudice and other forms of discrimination.

prejudice leadership facts

The world will not wait for us. by Bob Hawke

The world will not wait for us.

leadership waiting world

My point was that the war was intrinsically wrong, and as a result of our participation we haven't improved Australia's security but created a greater danger at home and abroad.

australia home war

I think it is just stupid economics for a government to approach economic management from a strand of thinking regarding unions as enemies.

government stupid thinking

Unless and until something concrete is done about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue you won't get a real start on the war against terrorism.

issues real war

We will not allow to become a political issue in this country the... by Bob Hawke

We will not allow to become a political issue in this country the question of Asianisation.

issues political country

[Malcolm Fraser] went straight from Melbourne Grammar to Oxford. And he would have been a very lonely person, and I think he probably met a lot of black students there who were also probably lonely. I think he formed friendships with them, which established his judgement about the question of colour. That’s my theory. I don’t know whether it’s right or not, but that’s what I always respected about Malcolm. He was absolutely, totally impeccable on the question of race and colour.

lonely race thinking

While society cannot provide employment for its members, the production/work/income nexus has to be abandoned as a justification for our present parsimony to the unemployed. An assumption cannot be used to justify making second-class citizens of those who are unfortunate enough to constitute living proof of the inaccuracy of that assumption.

income leadership class

I really had very little to do with Pierre Trudeau. He was off th... by Bob Hawke

I really had very little to do with Pierre Trudeau. He was off the scene very soon.

scene littles

In fact, soon after that [South African sanctions], I was going on an official visit to the UK and Margaret Thatcher instructed every minister to clear the decks of any outstanding matters between us - Australia and the Brits. And she went out of her way to make sure that that was as successful a visit as it possibly could be.

australia successful matter

We were great mates [with Rajiv Gandhi]: very, very, very close friends. In fact, on my visit to India as Prime Minister, we were going to his home for dinner. There were two aspects I remember: one is him saying how he had trouble with his security people, because they insisted he wears a vest. He said it was very uncomfortable and he often took it off, but of course, in the end, it wouldn't have mattered if he'd been wearing three vests - he would have been gone.

home two people

I hated [Robert Mugabe]. He's one of the worst human beings I've ever met. He treated black and white with equal contempt. He was a horrible human being.

mugabe mets black-and-white

I had a good personal relationship with Lee Kuan Yew and I used him, in the sense, that he... He made a statement in 1980, and he said in that statement that, "If Australia keeps going the way it is, it will finish up the poor, white trash of Asia." And he was right, because we were just going backwards.

yew australia white

I can't speak with authority about Emeka Anyaoku. I just didn't k... by Bob Hawke

I can't speak with authority about Emeka Anyaoku. I just didn't know him that well.

wells speak authority

It was Indira Gandhi who very much lined up with the Russians. And she was, you know, within the Commonwealth, basically one out on that. The first meeting in 1983 was held in India and I was very off put by her. I just couldn't abide her, basically.

commonwealth india firsts