Motivational Quotes

Leadership

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

- Roosevelt, Theodore

Best Quotes about Leadership

Every ruler is harsh whose laws are new.

Aeschylus

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

He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.

Seneca

Right or wrong, the customer is always right.

Field, Marshall

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

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

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

Confucius

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.

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

10.

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

Peters, Thomas J.

11.

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

Tutu, Bishop Desmond

12.

A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.

Ervin, Sam

13.

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.

14.

It is a characteristic of all movements and crusades that the psychopathic element rises to the top.

Lindner, Robert

15.

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

16.

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

Walters, J. Donald

17.

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

18.

The crowd gives the leader new strength.

Evenius

19.

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

Miller, Henry

20.

Education is the mother of leadership.

Willkie, Wendell L.

21.

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

Patton, George S.

22.

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

Disraeli, Benjamin

23.

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

Melbourne, Lord

24.

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

25.

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

Proverb, German

26.

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

Batten, Joe

27.

Leadership is like the old galley ships. 100s are rowing, but only one (the captain) knows where they are going

28.

Leaders don't inflict pain -- they share pain.

Depree, Max

29.

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

30.

The penalty of leadership is loneliness.

Robinson, H. Wheeler

31.

The person who has no enemies has no followers.

Piatt, Don

32.

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

Milton, John

33.

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

Rohn, Jim

34.

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

Maxwell, John C.

35.

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

36.

The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.

Stendhal, Henri B.

37.

Great leaders understand human behavior rather than the cybernetics of any function.

Schorr, James

38.

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

Kissinger, Henry

39.

Some men must follow, and some command, though all are made of clay.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

40.

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.

41.

It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead -- and find no one there.

Roosevelt, Franklin D.

42.

The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.

Rohn, Jim

43.

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

Hesburgh, Theodore M.

44.

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

Motto

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.

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

Eisenhower, Dwight D.

47.

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

Diderot, Denis

48.

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!

49.

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

Proverb, French

50.

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