Quotes on leadership

Leadership captures the essentials of being able and prepared to inspire others. Effective leadership is based upon ideas—both original and borrowed—that are effectively communicated to others in a way that engages them enough to act as the leader wants them to act. Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to “win” as a team or an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way- John C. Maxwell


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


I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion-Alexander the Great

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


Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther- J. P. Morgan


Today a reader, tomorrow a leader-Margaret Fuller


No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it- Andrew Carnegie


Leadership – leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses- Mitt Romney


A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd-Max Lucado


The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been- Henry Kissinger


Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal- E. Joseph Cossman


Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others’ success, and then standing back and letting them shine- Chris Hadfield


How we think shows through in how we act. Attitudes are mirrors of the mind. They reflect thinking- David Joseph Schwartz


Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it- Dwight D. Eisenhower


Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them-Paul Hawken


Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions- Harold S. Geneen


Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why-Bernard Baruch


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


Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership-Colin Powell

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Quincy Adams


Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.-Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder


Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.-Ralph Waldo Emerson


Leaders instill in their people a hope for success and a belief in themselves. Positive leaders empower people to accomplish their goals.-Unknown


The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.-Theodore M. Hesburgh


Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.-John F. Kennedy


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.-Jim Rohn


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.-Jim Rohn


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.-Jim Rohn


What you do has far greater impact than what you say– Stephen Covey, author and educator


Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. – Dale Carnegie, author and motivational speaker


Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want. – Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator


An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage. – Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric

It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. – Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett, investor


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. – Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club

One of the most important things for any leader is to never let anyone else define who you are. And you define who you are. I never think of myself as being a woman CEO of this company. I think of myself as a steward of a great institution.– Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM

Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal. – Walt Disney, founder of Disney


Leadership is something you earn, something you’re chosen for. You can’t come in yelling, ‘I’m your leader!’ If it happens, it’s because the other guys respect you. – Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback


Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.– Peter F. Drucker, author and educator

“ou don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader. – Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd – Max Lucado, Christian author and preacher

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. – Eleanor Roosevelt, former first lady of the United States

Knowing what must be done does away with fear. – Rosa Parks, civil rights activist

The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things. – Ronald Reagan, former U.S. President

It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent. – Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State

It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent. – Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand. – Gen. Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be. – Rosalynn Carter, former first lady of the United States

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. – Joe Namath, former New York Jets quarterback

If you don’t believe in yourself, why is anyone else going to believe in you. – Tom Brady, New England Patriots quarterback

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. – President John Quincy Adams, former U.S. President

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.– Woodrow Wilson, former U.S. President

In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.– Harry Truman, former U.S. President

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. – President Abraham Lincoln, former U.S. President

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. – Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. – Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people. – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian independence movement leader

A leader is a dealer in hope.– Napoleon Bonaparte, French military leader and emperor

“If ‘leadership’ has come to be known as something much bigger than us, aligned to changing the world, then we are spending way too much time celebrating things that hardly anyone can do and not celebrating things we can do every day.”- Drew Dudley, founder of Day One Leadership

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. —Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and former U.S. President

Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act toward achieving a common goal. In a business setting, this can mean directing workers and colleagues with a strategy to meet the company’s needs. Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act toward achieving a common goal. In a business setting, this can mean directing workers and colleagues with a strategy to meet the company’s needs. Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline … Reliance on intelligence alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness.

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