steady hand on the tiller

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."

[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.