steady hand on the tiller

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

steady hand on the tiller (usually uncountable, plural steady hands on the tiller or steady hands on the tillers)

1. (idiomatic) Reliable, composed control (of an organization or situation).
   • 1982 January 25, Leonard Sloane, “Business People: Challenge at Varityper”, in New York Times, retrieved 6 February 2018:

     The new president of the Varityper division of the financially troubled AM International, Joseph A. Verderber, knows that he has his work cut out for him. . . . "My challenge in a ship that big is to make certain that it has a good steady hand on the tiller."

   • 2008 October 8, David Von Drehle, “Obama Plays Ball Control in Second Debate”, in Time, retrieved 6 February 2018:

     "My hero," McCain declared, is Theodore Roosevelt, who said, "Walk softly, and carry a big stick." . . . McCain was left with this: "When times are tough, we need a steady hand on the tiller."

   • 2009 July 16, Julia Kollewe, “Currency trader Joe Lewis takes seat on board of Mitchells & Butlers”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 6 February 2018:

     Analyst Mark Brumby at Astaire said: ". . . The share register remains skewed but the current shareholders are likely to have learned from the mistakes of the past and, it is to be hoped, will provide a steady hand on the tiller."

2. (idiomatic, by extension) A person exhibiting such control.
   • 2000 December 14, Tony Karon, “How the World Sees President Bush”, in Time, retrieved 6 February 2018:

     [T]heir expressions of confidence in the new Bush administration were likely heartfelt — officials around the world reminisced enthusiastically about the scion of a president best remembered as a sober and steady hand on the tiller of foreign policy.

   • 2005 October 28, David Gritten, “I was so fearful of breaking the spell”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 6 February 2018:

     In his time, the veteran director Mike Newell has tackled a remarkably wide range of film genres. . . .[H]e was the steady hand on the tiller of the phenomenal Four Weddings and a Funeral, a deceptively effortless-looking romantic comedy which, lest we forget, did not direct itself.

   • 2014 August 5, Carol Goar, “How to survive a slow-growth recovery”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 6 February 2018:

     For six years Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promoted himself as a “steady hand on the tiller” to steer the nation through turbulent economic waters.

• even keel