quotations about leadership
What was leadership, after all, but the blind choice of one route over another and the confident pretense that the decision was based on reason.
ROBERT HARRIS
Pompeii
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
At the heart of leadership is the leader's relationship with followers. People will entrust their hopes and dreams to another person only if they think the other is a reliable vessel.
DAVID GERGAN
Eyewitness to Power
True leadership strengthens the followers. It is a process of teaching, setting an example, and empowering others. If you seek to lead, your ability will ultimately be measured in the successes of those around you.
DAVID NIVEN
100 Simple Secrets of Successful People
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
'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
While managers focus on the task to be completed, the process to complete it, and supervising a set of people to get there, the leaders role is more ambiguous. They must envision, set new directions, and inspire and value their team. To be a leader, it is absolutely essential to listen to people and understand their needs.
JACOB MORGAN
"What Does Leadership Look Like In The Future Of Work?", Forbes, March 28, 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
Men are loyal when you lead from the front.
PAOLO BACIGALUPI
The Windup Girl
Poor leadership is itself a scandal.
MARIAM MOKHTAR
"Poor leadership is itself a scandal", Free Malaysia Today, March 30, 2016
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
I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.
ROBERT E. LEE
attributed, Dictionary of Military and Naval Quotations
Leadership is taking responsibility while others are making excuses.
JOHN C. MAXWELL
Leadership Gold
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
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
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