Leadership Quotes
Welcome to Leadership Quotes. Here you will find famous quotes and quotations about leadership.
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
A leader is a dealer in hope~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. ~Margaret Fuller
If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall in the ditch. ~Jesus Christ
He who has great power should use it lightly. ~Seneca
All Leadership is influence. ~John C. Maxwell
It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching. ~St. Francis of Assisi
Leadership is difficult but it is not complex. ~Michael McKinney
Leadership is intentional influence. ~Michael McKinney
Authority should be seen as a part of leadership, not as a way around it. ~Michael McKinney
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. ~Steve Jobs
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves. ~Albert Camus
A leader is one who influences a specific group of people to move in a God-given direction. ~J. Robert Clinton
Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned. ~Harold Geneen
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. ~John Maxwell
Never give an order that can't be obeyed. ~General Douglas MacArthur
Look over your shoulder now and then to be sure someone's following you. ~Henry Gilmer
Rick is the leader and I don't have a problem with that. ~Benjamin Orr
Speak Softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. ~Theodore Roosevelt
People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives. ~Theodore Roosevelt
Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. ~Arnold Glasow
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. ~Ralph Nader
The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership. ~Harvey S. Firestone
The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. ~Kenneth Blanchard
The led must not be compelled; they must be able to choose their own leader. ~Albert Einstein
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
The chief qualification of a mass leader has become unending infallibility; he can never admit an error. ~Hannah Arendt
The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do. ~Andrew Carnegie
The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there. ~John Buchan
The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. ~Henry Kissinger
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
here is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple, and useful life. ~Booker T. Washington
To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone. ~Harry Truman
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. ~John C. Maxwell
A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under. ~Sam Houston
A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader. ~Golda Meir
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example. ~Joe DiMaggio
I must follow the people. Am I not their leader? ~Benjamin Disraeli
I never could be a partisan leader a man of one idea. ~Joshua Chamberlain
I think I'm a naturalborn leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it's authority that I respect. ~ Tupac Shakur
I'm not a natural leader. I'm too intellectual; I'm too abstract; I think too much~Newt Gingrich
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader~John Quincy Adams
The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people~Woodrow Wilson
The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership. ~ Harvey S. Firestone
The real leader has no need to lead he is content to point the way~Henry Miller
The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap~Ayn Rand
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been~Henry A. Kissinger
The United States is the leader of the free world~Elizabeth Dole
You don't have to hold a position in order to be a leader~Anthony J. D'Angelo
We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. Founder of the Republican Party~ Barack Obama
When the best leader's work is done the people say, We did it ourselves~ Lao Tzu
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity~Karl Von Clausewitz
The words of the songs, not the person, is what attracts people~Bob Marley
People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision~John C. Maxwell
He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
I am reminded how hollow the label of leadership sometimes is and how heroic followership can be. ~ Warren Bennis
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives~ Theodore Roosevelt
A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit~Arnold H. Glasgow
A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone~Henry A. Kissinger
A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done~Ralph Nader
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
You do not lead by hitting people over the head ~ that's assault, not leadership. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist. ~ Eric Hoffer
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. ~ John Quincy Adams
The ability to summon positive emotions during periods of intense stress lies at the heart of effective leadership. ~ Jim Loehr
You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too. ~ Sam Rayburn
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
You don't lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case. ~ Ken Kesey
Each group and each youngster is different. As a leader or coach, you get to know what they need. ~Mike Krzyzewski
It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it~Henry A. Kissinger
The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of freedom or shrink them~ When Ronald Reagan
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. ~ Max DePree
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and the will to carry on. ~ Walter Lippmann
Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions. ~ Harold S. Geneen
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Example is not the main thing in influencing others; it is the only thing. ~ Albert Schweitzer
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
What is the primary purpose of a political leader? To build a majority. If voters care about parking lots, then talk about parking lots~Newt Gingrich
The country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy. We have to offer an alternative vision~Mitt Romney
If your goal is anything but profitability if it's to be big, or to grow fast, or to become a fdtechnology leader you'll hit problems~Michael Porter
If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles~Karl Von Clausewitz
I was writing a chapter of Beautiful Evidence on the subject of the sculptural pedestal, which led to my thinking about what's up on the pedestal the great leader~Edward Tufte
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
The leader must know, must know that he knows, and must be able to make it abundantly clear to those around him that he knows. ~ Clarence Randall
Lead and inspire people. Don't try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead. ~ Ross Perot
Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. ~ Norman Schwarzkopf
If you don't understand that you work for your mislabeled 'subordinates,' then you know nothing of leadership. You know only tyranny. ~ Dee Hock
How do you know you have won? When the energy is coming the other way and when your people are visibly growing individually and as a group. ~ Sir John HarveyJones
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. ~ Jack Welch
Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand. ~ General Colin Powell
He makes a great mistake ... who supposes that authority is firmer or better established when it is founded by force than that which is welded by affection. ~ Terence
Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration ~of oneself and of others.
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. ~Stephen R. Covey
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
The secret of a leader lies in the tests he has faced over the whole course of his life and the habit of action he develops in meeting those tests~Gail Sheehy
The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to one category~Adolf Hitler
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
On the other hand, if the free world is concerned with how a new Palestinian leader governs, then the peace process will have a real chance to succeed. ~Natan Sharansky
Whether it comes from a despotic sovereign or an elected president, from a murderous general or a beloved leader, I see power as an inhuman and hateful phenomenon~Oriana Fallaci
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart from the ordinary people who debate in narrow confines~Charles de Gaulle
On the other hand, if the free world is concerned with how a new Palestinian leader governs, then the peace process will have a real chance to succeed~Natan Sharansky
If you're looking for the safe choice, you shouldn't be supporting a black guy named Barack Obama to be the next leader of the free world~ Barack Obama
In the past a leader was a boss. Today's leaders must be partners with their people... they no longer can lead solely based on positional power~Ken Blanchard
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
It is very hard to be a female leader. While it is assumed that any man, no matter how tough, has a soft side... and female leader is assumed to be onedimensional~Billie Jean King
Khomeini was not a puppet like Arafat or Qaddafi or the many other dictators I met in the Islamic world. He was a sort of Pope, a sort of king a real leader~Oriana Fallaci
A political leader must keep looking over his shoulder all the time to see if the boys are still there. If they aren't still there, he's no longer a political leader~Bernard Baruch
People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and selfrestraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
As a leader, you're probably not doing a good job unless your employees can do a good impression of you when you're not around. ~ Patrick Lencioni
Leaders conceive and articulate goals that lift people out of their petty preoccupations and unite them in pursuit of objectives worthy of their best efforts. ~ John Gardner
My own definition of leadership is this: The capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence. ~ General Montgomery
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. ~ General George Patton
My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all~John Lennon
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
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. Vince Lombardi
The best is he who calls men to the best. And those who heed the call are also blessed. But worthless who call not, heed not, but rest. ~ Hesiod
The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers. ... Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership. ~ Gary Wills
Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave. ~ Henry Peter Brougham, The Present State of Law, 1828
We must get away from the idea that America is to be the leader of the world in everything~Francis John McConnell
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves~Lao Tzu
I definitely did look up to John. We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader; he was the quickest wit and the smartest~ Paul McCartney
Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry. ~ Winston Churchill
Leader in its most important sense means being the agent of your own life, influencing the things you care about most in the world to make it a richer life. ~ Stewart Friedman, Total Leadership
High sentiments always win in the end, The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic. ~ George Orwell
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
A good leader is one who can tell another how to reach his or her potential; a great leader is one who can help another discover this potential for him or herself.Bo Bennett
Leadership is a posture and a choice, not a role that must be bestowed on you. Step up and be a leader when no one is watching or expecting you to do so. ~ John Izzo and Marshall Goldsmith, Stepping Up
A leader who confines his role to his people's experience dooms himself to stagnation; a leader who outstrips his people's experience runs the risk of not being understood~Henry A. Kissinger
When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader~ Plato
Men make history and not the other way around. 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
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
Your position never gives you the right to command. It only imposes on you the duty of so living your life that others may receive your orders without being humiliated. ~ Dag Hammarskjöld
Third, the American legislative process is one of give and take. Use your power as a leader to persuade, not intimidate....To be a leader of men one must turn one's back on men~Havelock Ellis
Leadership is the ability to establish standards and manage a creative climate where people are selfmotivated toward the mastery of long term constructive goals, in a participatory environment of mutual respect, compatible with personal values. ~ Mike Vance
No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings. ~ Peter Drucker
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
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
Now there are five matters to which a general must pay strict heed. The first of these is administration; the second, preparedness; the third, determination; the fourth, prudence; and the fifth, economy. ~ Wu Ch'i
When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Into the hands of every individual is given a marvelous power for good or evil the silent, unconscious, unseen influence of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what man really is, not what he pretends to be. ~ William George Jordan
I mean, I think I liked every band I ever played in because each band was different, each band had a different concept, and each band leader was different... different personalities and musical tastes~Buddy Rich
In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now. ~ Wangari Maathai
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
I strongly believe that the responsibility of leadership is to shape the debate ~to practice and project the right attributes ~whether in a business enterprise, in our society, and even in our religions. ~ Farooq Kathwari, CEO Ethan Allen
Humans will probably always need the help of especially gifted moral leaders in order to extend the bonds of caring and trust beyond the easy range of the family and the facetoface community. Such bonds have become essential to the future of humanity. ~Paul R. Lawrence, Driven To Lead
We would very much like to see Iran take a position as a responsible leader that doesn't intimidate or threaten or scare its neighbors and others. But the choice is really up to Iran and we're going to keep working to try to come out with the right decision~Hillary Clinton
Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine. ~ Lance Secretan
Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not making friends and influencing people, that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. ~ Peter F. Drucker
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
Max DePree popularized the idea that leadership is an art. So much of what a leader does cannot be objectively measured. To reduce leadership to a set of algorithms is to remove it from its context; to ignore the complexities, the contradictions, and the possibilities. Artists must deal with uncertainty, contradictions and diversity almost by definition. Leaders need to have this capacity. ~ Michael McKinney
Control is not leadership; management is not leadership; leadership is leadership. If you seek to lead, invest at least 50% of your time in leading yourself ~your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct. Invest at least 20% leading those with authority over you and 15% leading your peers. ~ Dee Hock
To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ... When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!' ~ Laotsu
Leadership Quotes and Quotations
Appraisals are where you get together with your team leader and agree what an outstanding member of the team you are, how much your contribution has been valued, what massive potential you have and, in recognition of all this, would you mind having your salary halved~Theodore Roosevelt
I think leadership comes from integrity that you do whatever you ask others to do. I think there are nonobvious ways to lead. Just by providing a good example as a parent, a friend, a neighbor makes it possible for other people to see better ways to do things. Leadership does not need to be a dramatic, fist in the air and trumpets blaring, activity. ~ Scott Berkun
I think that the best training a top manager can be engaged in is management by example. I want to make sure there is no discrepancy between what we say and what we do. If you preach accountability and then promote somebody with bad results, it doesn't work. I personally believe the best training is management by example. Don't believe what I say. Believe what I do. ~ Carlos Ghosn, CEO of RenaultNissan
More than anything else today, followers believe they are part of a system, a process that lacks heart. If there is one thing a leader can do to connect with followers at a human, or better still a spiritual level, it is to become engaged with them fully, to share experiences and emotions, and to set aside the processes of leadership we have learned by rote. ~ Lance Secretan, Industry Week, October 12, 1998
Leadership must be based on goodwill. Goodwill does not mean posturing and, least of all, pandering to the mob. It means obvious and wholehearted commitment to helping followers. We are tired of leaders we fear, tired of leaders we love, and of tired of leaders who let us take liberties with them. What we need for leaders are men of the heart who are so helpful that they, in effect, do away with the need of their jobs. But leaders like that are never out of a job, never out of followers. Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away. ~ Admiral James B. Stockdale