Motivational Quotes

Leadership

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

- Machiavelli, Niccolo

Best Quotes about Leadership

Skill in the art of communication is crucial to a leader's success. He can accomplish nothing unless he can communicate effectively.

Allen, Norman

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

Tutu, Bishop Desmond

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.

No man has ever risen to the real stature of spiritual manhood until he has found that it is finer to serve somebody else than it is to serve himself.

Wilson, Woodrow T.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

John F. Kennedy

The real leader has no need to lead -- he is content to point the way.

Miller, Henry

Leadership must be established from the top down.

Nunn, Sam

Leadership is the other side of the coin of loneliness, and he who is a leader must always act alone. And acting alone, accept everything alone.

Marcos, Ferdinand E.

The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says I; The leader says WE. The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says, GO; the leader says lets, GO!

Selfridge, H. Gordon

10.

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

11.

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

Proverb, German

12.

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

13.

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!

14.

We are reformers in the spring and summer, but in autumn we stand by the old. Reformers in the morning, and conservers at night.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

15.

I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion's roar.

Churchill, Winston

16.

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.

17.

Six traits of effective leaders: 1. Make others feel important 2. Promote a vision 3. Follow the golden rule 4. Admit mistakes 5. Criticize others only in private 6. Stay close to the action Example has more followers than reason. We unconsciously imitate what pleases us, and approximate to the characters we most admire.

Bovee, Christian Nevell

18.

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

Cervantes, Miguel De

19.

When a customer enters my store, forget me. He is king.

Wanamaker, John

20.

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.

21.

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

Hoover, Herbert Clark

22.

When the leadership is right and the time is right, the people can always be counted upon to follow -- to the end at all costs.

Seymour, Harold J.

23.

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

24.

Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving.

Ford, Henry

25.

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

26.

The penalty of leadership is loneliness.

Robinson, H. Wheeler

27.

When placed in command -- take charge.

Schwarzkopf, Norman

28.

An order that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

29.

To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn't know where he is going.

Namath, Joe

30.

The crowd gives the leader new strength.

Evenius

31.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Machiavelli, Niccolo

32.

Tell a person they are brave and you help them become so.

Carlyle, Thomas

33.

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

Diderot, Denis

34.

Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.

Rohn, Jim

35.

When a blind man bears the standard, pity those who follow.

Proverb, French

36.

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.

37.

The wise man who is not heeded is counted a fool, and the fool who proclaims the general folly first and loudest passes for a prophet and F?hrer, and sometimes it is luckily the other way round as well, or else mankind would long since have perished of stupidity.

Jung, Carl

38.

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

Laura Preble

39.

No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.

Tacitus, Publius Cornelius

40.

The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

Bennis, Warren

41.

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

42.

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

43.

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

Churchill, Winston

44.

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

45.

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

Bennis, Warren

46.

Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.

Peters, Thomas J.

47.

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

Ovid

48.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.

Maxwell, John C.

49.

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

50.

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