quotations about leadership
True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves but about lifting others up.
SHERI L. DEW
Saying It Like It Is
Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths.
JOHN H. ZENGER & JOSEPH FOLKMAN
The Extraordinary Leader
And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
BIBLE
Matthew 15:14
If becoming a high performing organization is the destination, leadership is the engine.
KEN BLANCHARD
Leading at a Higher Level
You don't become an effective leader by default.
JOHN C. MAXWELL
Leadership Gold
The most enthusiastic man in a cause is rarely chosen as the leader.
ARTHUR HELPS
Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd
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
The Essential Lippmann
A leader is a dealer in hope.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
attributed, And I Quote
Leadership is love made visible.
DARYA FUNCHES
attributed, Speak the Truth and Point to Hope
You aren't leading unless people are following.
RON EDMONDSON
"7 Times Leadership is at Its Best -- A Delicate Tension", Crossmap, April 18, 2016
Because our desire for a coherent vision of the world is bottomless, our hunger for leadership is insatiable, too. Leaders make the world more sensible, but never sensible enough.
JOSHUA ROTHMAN
"Shut Up and Sit Down", The New Yorker, February 29, 2016
Once you've given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject.
FRANK HERBERT
Dune
The first act of leadership is coming to grips with yourself, who you are, where you are, and what is of value to you, and shaping yourself by acts of conscious will into what you want to become.
FENWICK W. ENGLISH
The Art of Educational Leadership
A good leader makes a good follower.
BION
attributed, Day's Collacon
The man fit to command may be compared with the architect, who adjusts the plan and directs its execution. His skill must extend to every part of the work; that of his workmen is limited by their respective tasks.
ARISTOTLE
Politics
It is very comforting to believe that leaders who do terrible things are, in fact, mad. That way, all we have to do is make sure we don't put psychotics in high places and we've got the problem solved.
TOM WOLFE
"Jonestown", In Our Time
Leadership is the name that people use to make sense out of complex events and the outcomes of events they otherwise would not be able to explain. In other words, people attribute leadership to certain individuals who are called leaders because people want to believe that leaders cause things to happen rather than have to explain causality by understanding complex social forces or analyzing the dynamic interaction among people, events, and environment.
JOSEPH CLARENCE ROST
Leadership for the Twenty-first Century
A leader, you see, is one of the things that distinguishes a mob from a people.
FRANK HERBERT
Dune
When the shepherd is a wolf, the flock becomes only so much meat.
BRIAN HERBERT & KEVEN J. ANDERSON
Dune: House Corrino
He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.
ARISTOTLE
Politics