Motivational Quotes

Leadership

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him. But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.

- Lao-Tzu

Best Quotes about Leadership

Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's right.

Johnson, Lyndon B.

Leadership is the activity of influencing people to cooperate towards some goal which they come to find desirable and which motivates them over the long haul.

Tead, Orway

Every private in the French army carries a Field Marshall wand in his knapsack.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

It is time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities. For there is a new world to be won.

Kennedy, John F.

I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.

Geneen, Harold S.

Perhaps in His wisdom the Almighty is trying to show us that a leader may chart the way, may point out the road to lasting peace, but that many leaders and many peoples must do the building.

Roosevelt, Eleanor

Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men -- the other 999 follow women.

Marx, Groucho

Search others for their virtue, and yourself for your vices.

Fuller, R. Buckminster

Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.

Lombardi, Vince

10.

The golden rule for every business man is this: Put yourself in your customer's place.

Marden, Orison Swett

11.

A crown, golden in show is but a wreath of thorns.

Milton, John

12.

I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.

Lao-Tzu

13.

The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.

Churchill, Winston

14.

He is the richest man who enriches his country most; in whom the people feel richest and proudest; who gives himself with his money; who opens the doors of opportunity widest to those about him; who is ears to the deaf; eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. Such a man makes every acre of land in his community worth more, and makes richer every man who lives near him.

Marden, Orison Swett

15.

No affection and a great brain, these are the people to command the world.

Disraeli, Benjamin

16.

Leadership is a serving relationship that has the effect of facilitating human development.

Ward, Ted

17.

You do not lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership.

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

18.

Right or wrong, the customer is always right.

Field, Marshall

19.

A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.

Lauren, Ralph

20.

It is the Vague and Elusive. Meet it and you will not see its head. Follow it and you will not see its back.

Lao-Tzu

21.

The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.

Rockefeller, John D.

22.

I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.

Talleyrand, Charles Maurice De

23.

Ronald Reagan has held the two most demeaning jobs in the country; President of the United States and radio broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs.

Will, George F.

24.

Leadership has to do with direction. Management has to do with the speed, coordination and logistics in going in that direction. The WORKERS are chopping their way through the jungle. The MANAGERS are coordinating, making sure the tools are sharp, etc. The LEADERS climb a tree and shout Wrong jungle!! The MANAGERS shout back Be quiet! We're making progress!

25.

'Tis a dainty thing to command, though 'twere but a flock of sheep.

Cervantes, Miguel De

26.

Men are lead by trifles.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

27.

Those who can command themselves command others.

Hazlitt, William

28.

One secret of leadership is that the mind of a leader never turns off. Leaders even when they are sightseers or spectators, are active; not passive observers.

Humes, James

29.

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

Diogenes of Sinope

30.

Leadership must be established from the top down.

Nunn, Sam

31.

A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group.

Ewing, Russell H.

32.

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.

Lukas, Wayne

33.

In the great mass of our people there are plenty individuals of intelligence from among whom leadership can be recruited.

Hoover, Herbert Clark

34.

To lead people walk behind them.

Lao-Tzu

35.

Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.

Humphrey, Hubert H.

36.

Napoleon affords us an example of the danger of elevating one's self to the absolute, and sacrificing everything to the carrying out of an idea.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von

37.

In really good companies, you have to lead. You have to come up with big ideas and express them forcefully. I have always been encouraged -- or sometimes forced -- to confront the very natural fear of being wrong. I was constantly pushed to find out what I really thought and then to speak up. Over time, I came to see that waiting to discover which way the wind was blowing is an excellent way to learn how to be a follower.

Enrico, Roger

38.

The wealth of kings is in the affections of their subjects.

Motto

39.

Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it.

Bennis, Warren

40.

The world cannot be governed without juggling.

Selden, John

41.

If you lead the people with correctness, who will dare not be correct?

Confucius

42.

Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.

Half, Robert

43.

Every leader needs to look back once in a while to make sure he has followers. Source Unknown Effective leaders are known by the questions they ask rather than the statements they make.

44.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

Kissinger, Henry

45.

The minute a person whose word means a great deal to others dare to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow.

Anderson, Marian

46.

The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without'playing up'to anyone - even to himself.

Andre Malraux

47.

Public sentiment is everything, with it nothing can fail, without it nothing can succeed.

Lincoln, Abraham

48.

Men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.

Machiavelli, Niccolo

49.

The chief executive who knows his strengths and weaknesses as a leader is likely to be far more effective than the one who remains blind to them. He also is on the road to humility -- that priceless attitude of openness to life that can help a manager absorb mistakes, failures, or personal shortcomings.

Adair, John

50.

Faith in the ability of a leader is of slight service unless it be united with faith in his justice.

George Goethals