quotations about leadership
Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.
COLIN POWELL
"10 Leadership Tenets from Colin Powell", Stanford Graduate School of Business
Despite the trend to see leaders as benign, ethical, moral, centered people, they're not always. Some theorize that it's not even necessary: in fact, sometimes good behavior is actually counter-productive, and slows down implementation. Forget about finding your emotional true north. Just get it done.
MEGHAN M. BIRO
"5 Great Ways To Hack Your Leadership Style", Forbes, April 22, 2016
Leadership is made by strong men with strong convictions, not clerks who study commas on lawslates.
BRIAN HERBERT & KEVIN J. ANDERSON
Dune: House Harkonnen
'Tis a dainty thing to command, though 'twere but a flock of sheep.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Don Quixote
The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.
SETH GODIN
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.
TONY BLAIR
Mail on Sunday, Oct. 2, 1994
Poor leadership is itself a scandal.
MARIAM MOKHTAR
"Poor leadership is itself a scandal", Free Malaysia Today, March 30, 2016
All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.
JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH
The Age of Uncertainty
Leading is a hot seat and some of us embrace it and some of us don't. And there are always ways to do it better.
MEGHAN M. BIRO
"5 Great Ways To Hack Your Leadership Style", Forbes, April 22, 2016
Leaders are expected to look into the future, to gaze across the time horizon and communicate to us what they see. It's not about being prescient or clairvoyant. It's about being discerning and perceptive. It's about noticing what's around the corner.
JAMES M. KOUZES & BARRY POSNER
A Leader's Legacy
There are two kinds of leaders: those who are interested in the flock, and those who are interested in the fleece.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
By leadership we mean the art of getting someone else to do something that you want done because he wants to do it.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
attributed, The Federal Career Service: A Look Ahead
The strength of the group is in the will of the leader, and the will is character in action.
VINCE LOMBARDI
attributed, Run to Win: Vince Lombardi on Coaching and Leadership
Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way.
GEORGE S. PATTON
Patton Principles
If leadership is the act of going beyond what is ... it begins by going beyond what is within ourselves.
KEVIN CASHMAN
Leadership from the Inside Out
There is nothing worse than a leader who is too far ahead of the people he or she is trying to lead. Have you ever tried to follow someone in a car? Some people are good at leading you -- some aren't. But, the best leadership is always taking you somewhere you haven't been before -- stretching you towards something new.
RON EDMONDSON
"7 Times Leadership is at Its Best -- A Delicate Tension", Crossmap, April 18, 2016
Men are loyal when you lead from the front.
PAOLO BACIGALUPI
The Windup Girl
A leader is best when people barely know he exists.
LAOZI
Tao Te Ching
I will not follow where the path may lead; instead I will go where there is no path and leave a trail.
MURIEL STRODE
My Little Book of Prayer
Think like a leader from the start. Even the most intense apprenticeship phase isn't designed to endow you with leadership skills. That's why you should find ways to develop these skills on your own, as soon as you get your feet wet.
CHRISTIAN BONILLA
"Leadership is a quality that you can teach yourself", Quartz, April 11, 2016