best leadership quotes.

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 TzuWhere there is no vision, the people perish. —Proverbs 29:18I must follow the people. Am I not their leader? —Benjamin DisraeliYou manage things; you lead people. —Rear Admiral Grace Murray HopperThe first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. —Max DePreeLeadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. —Warren BennisLead me, follow me, or get out of my way. — General George PattonBefore you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. —Jack WelchA leader is a dealer in hope. —Napoleon BonaparteYou don’t need a title to be a leader. –Multiple AttributionsA leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. —John MaxwellMy 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 MontgomeryLeadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. —Peter DruckerNever doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. —Margaret MeadThe nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground. —Sir Winston ChurchillThe most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leadersare made rather than born. —Warren BennisTo command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less. —Andre MalrauxHe who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander. —AristotleBecome the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position. —Brian TracyI start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. —Ralph NaderEffective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes. —Peter DruckerAnyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. —Publilius SyrusA great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together. —Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheThe best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. —Theodore RooseveltLeadership is influence. —John C. MaxwellYou don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case. —Ken KeseyWhen I give a minister an order, I leave it to him to find the means to carry it out. —Napoleon BonaparteMen 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 S. TrumanPeople buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. —John MaxwellSo much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. —Peter DruckerThe art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes. —Tony BlairThe very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. —Reverend Theodore HesburghThe key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. —Kenneth BlanchardA good general not only sees the way to victory; he also knows when victory is impossible. —PolybiusA great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position. —John MaxwellA 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 CarterThe 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. —Jim RohnOutstanding 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 WaltonA true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. —Douglas MacArthurA ruler should be slow to punish and swift to reward. —OvidNo man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it. —Andrew CarnegieLeadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. —General Dwight EisenhowerThe leader has to be practical and a realist yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist. —Eric HofferLeaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems. —Brian TracyA man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. —Max LucadoNever tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. —General George PattonAs we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. —Bill GatesAll 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 GalbraithDo what you feel in your heart to be right–for you’ll be criticized anyway. —Eleanor RooseveltDon’t necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership. —Donald RumsfeldEducation is the mother of leadership. —Wendell WillkieEffective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. —Stephen CoveyGreat leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand. —General Colin PowellGreat leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths. —John ZengerHe who has great power should use it lightly. —SenecaHe who has learned how to obey will know how to command. —SolonI am reminded how hollow the label of leadership sometimes is and how heroic followership can be. —Warren BennisI cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody. —Herbert SwopeIf one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities. —Maya AngelouIf you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing. —Benjamin FranklinIf your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. —John Quincy AdamsIn matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. —Thomas JeffersonIt is absurd that a man should rule others, who cannot rule himself. —Latin ProverbIt is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. —Nelson MandelaLead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead. —Ross PerotLeaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. —Vince LombardiLeaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. —John C. MaxwellLeadership and learning are indispensable to each other. —John F. KennedyLeadership cannot just go along to get along. Leadership must meet the moral challenge of the day. —Jesse JacksonLeadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. —Woodrow WilsonLeadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. —Norman SchwarzkopfLeadership 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 PowellLeadership is the key to 99 percent of all successful efforts. —Erskine BowlesLeadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better. —Bill BradleyManagement is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing. —Tom PetersManagement is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. —Stephen CoveyNever give an order that can’t be obeyed. —General Douglas MacArthurNo man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent. —Abraham LincolnWhat you do has far greater impact than what you say. —Stephen CoveyNot the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow. —Chinese ProverbOne of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. —Arnold GlasowThe final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and the will to carry on. —Walter LippmanThe greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision. —Ken BlanchardThe growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership. —Harvey FirestoneTo do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult. —Friedrich NietzscheTo have long term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way. —Pat RileyTrue leadership lies in guiding others to success. In ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well. —Bill OwensWe live in a society obsessed with public opinion. But leadership has never been about popularity. —Marco RubioWhatever you are, be a good one. —Abraham LincolnYou gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do. —Eleanor RooseveltA competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops. —John J PershingA good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. —John MaxwellThere are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity and courage. —Fuchan YuanI am endlessly fascinated that playing football is considered a training ground for leadership, but raising children isn’t. —Dee Dee MyersA cowardly leader is the most dangerous of men. —Stephen KingMy responsibility is getting all my players playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back. –UnknownA good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. –George PattonThe supreme quality of leadership is integrity. –Dwight EisenhowerYou don’t lead by hitting people over the head—that’s assault, not leadership. –Dwight EisenhowerEarn your leadership every day. –Michael Jordan______