Motivational Quotes

Leadership

To lead people walk behind them.

- Lao-Tzu

Best Quotes about Leadership

It is very comforting to believe that leaders who do terrible things are, in fact, mad. That way, all we have to do is make sure we don't put psychotics in high places and we've got the problem solved.

Wolfe, Thomas

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

Management is nothing more than motivating other people.

Lee Iacocca

A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.

Glasgow, Arnold H.

A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world.

Updike, John

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.

When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.

Walters, J. Donald

The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.

Batten, Joe

10.

It's important for the explorer to be willing to be led astray.

Oech, Roger Von

11.

The high sentiments always win in the end, the leaders who offer blood, toil, tears, and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

Orwell, George

12.

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

Diderot, Denis

13.

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

14.

Most of the ladies and gentlemen who mourn the passing of the nation's leaders wouldn't know a leader if they saw one. If they had the bad luck to come across a leader, they would find out that he might demand something from them, and this impertinence would put an abrupt and indignant end to their wish for his return.

Lapham, Lewis H.

15.

Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control.

Landry, Tom

16.

You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.

Knox, John

17.

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

18.

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

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

19.

Outstanding leaders appeal to the hearts of their followers -- not their minds.

20.

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

Milton, John

21.

The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such.

Maurois, Andre

22.

A prince should be slow to punish, and quick to reward.

Ovid

23.

It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope.

Pope John XXIII

24.

I learned that a great leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do and like it.

Truman, Harry S

25.

Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.

Walton, Sam

26.

Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

27.

That is no use at all. What I want is men who will support me when I am in the wrong.

Melbourne, Lord

28.

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

Machiavelli, Niccolo

29.

Managers are people who do things right; leaders are people who do the right thing.

Bennis, Warren

30.

Certainly a leader needs a clear vision of the organization and where it is going, but a vision is of little value unless it is shared in a way so as to generate enthusiasm and commitment. Leadership and communication are inseparable.

Taylor, Claude

31.

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

George Goethals

32.

The world of the 90s and beyond will belong to managers or those who make the numbers dance, as we used to say, or those who are conversant with all the business jargon we used to sound smart. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders -- people who not only have an enormous amount of energy but who can energize those whom they lead.

Welch, John

33.

A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.

Adelman, Ken

34.

The leader seeks to communicate his vision to his followers. He captures their attention with his optimistic intuition of possible solutions to their needs. He influences them by the dynamism of his faith. He demonstrates confidence that the challenge can be met, the need resolved, the crisis overcome.

Haggai, John

35.

If you want to be comfortable -- take an easy job. If you aspire to leadership, take off your coat.

36.

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.

37.

I'm their leader, I've got to follow them.

Ledru-Rollin, Alexandre

38.

Show me the leader and I will know his men. Show me the men and I will know their leader.

Newcomb, Arthur W.

39.

The lead dog gets the best view. The rest of the dogs view is butt ugly. Of course, the lead dog is also the first to fall into the ravine.

Saunders, Richard

40.

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

41.

True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.

Townsend, Robert

42.

The best leaders... almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.

Peters, Thomas J.

43.

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

44.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, We did it ourselves.

Lao-Tzu

45.

Every ruler is harsh whose laws are new.

Aeschylus

46.

We will make them think it's their idea. That's how all great leaders fool people.

Laura Preble

47.

Those that rule must hear and be deaf, must see and be blind.

Proverb, German

48.

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