Motivational Quotes

Leadership

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

Best Quotes about Leadership

To lead people walk behind them.

Lao-Tzu

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

Ford, Henry

The highest of distinctions is service to others.

King George VI

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.

Keep cool and you will command everyone.

Justinian

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

Augustine, St.

A leader has been defined as one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

Gandhi, Mahatma

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.

10.

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

11.

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

Bennis, Warren

12.

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

13.

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

14.

Leaders create an environment which everyone has the opportunity to do work which matches his potential capability and for which an equitable differential reward is provided.

Jaques, Elliott

15.

Popularity is not leadership.

Marcinko, Richard

16.

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

17.

The leader can never close the gap between himself and the group. If he does, he is no longer what he must be. He must walk a tightrope between the consent he must win and the control he must exert.

Lombardi, Vince

18.

When the best leader's work is done the people say, We did it ourselves.

Lao-Tzu

19.

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

20.

Efficiency tends to deal with Things. Effectiveness tends to deal with People. We manage things, we lead people

21.

Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.

Ward, William A.

22.

The right man comes at the right time.

Proverb, Italian

23.

So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.

Peter Drucker

24.

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

Ledru-Rollin, Alexandre

25.

A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

Meir, Golda

26.

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

Bennis, Warren

27.

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.

28.

Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.

Lombardi, Vince

29.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

Kissinger, Henry

30.

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

George Goethals

31.

Impatience is the cause of most of our irregularities and extravagances Command by obeying.

Motto

32.

I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

Iacocca, Lee

33.

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.

Hesburgh, Theodore M.

34.

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.

Lippmann, Walter

35.

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

36.

Leaders are readers.

Jones, Charles ''Tremendous''

37.

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

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

38.

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

Tutu, Bishop Desmond

39.

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.

40.

The penalty of leadership is loneliness.

Robinson, H. Wheeler

41.

Eagles don't flock, you have to find them one at a time.

Perot, H. Ross

42.

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.

43.

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

Schwarzkopf, Norman

44.

Leadership is not a position. You are not a leader because you have the title of manager. Leadership is something that we earn from followers on a day to day basis.

The EMS Manager Newsletter

45.

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

Miller, Henry

46.

A good leader needs to have a compass in his head and a bar of steel in his heart.

Townsend, Robert

47.

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

Allen, Norman

48.

Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.

Kissinger, Henry

49.

I don't think that a leader can control to any great extent his destiny. Very seldom can he step in and change the situation if the forces of history are running in another direction.

Nixon, Richard M.

50.

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