quotations about leadership
Today's leaders find the magic in their players.
STEVE CHANDLER & SCOTT RICHARDSON
100 Ways to Motivate Others
"Safety first" has been the motto of the human race for half a million years; but it has never been the motto of leaders. A leader must face danger. He must take the risk and the blame, and the brunt of the storm.
HERBERT N. CASSON
The Office Economist
What I want is men who will support me when I am in the wrong.
LORD MELBOURNE
attributed, Lord M.
It often happens that less depends upon the valor of an army than the skill of the leader.
ARISTOPHANES
attributed, Day's Collacon
Leading means running fast enough to keep ahead of your people.
S. M. STIRLING
The Sunrise Lands
The best boss is the one who bosses the least.
RALPH MOODY
Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers
Leadership is a form of captivity, in which one is both separated from others and exposed to their judgment.
JOSHUA ROTHMAN
"Shut Up and Sit Down", The New Yorker, February 29, 2016
The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.
ERIC HOFFER
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
There are two kinds of leaders: those who are interested in the flock, and those who are interested in the fleece.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
There is no such thing as a perfect leader.... If there is one, he is only pretending, like a pig inserting scallions into its nose in an effort to look like an elephant.
LIU SHAOQI
attributed, Mao and China: From Revolution to Revolution
Because leadership is contextual and culturally contingent, its practice cannot be divorced from the specific socio-cultural context within which it occurs. Leadership development must begin to make contextual sense to its recipients, and to the social contexts in which they will be practicing as leaders.
VANESSA IWOWO
"Leadership: one size does not fit all contexts", Business Review, April 20, 2016
The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.
TONY BLAIR
Mail on Sunday, Oct. 2, 1994
The great leader attracts to himself men of kindred character, drawing them towards him as the loadstone draws iron.
SAMUEL SMILES
Character
Leadership is much less about what you do, and much more about who you are. If you view leadership as a bag of manipulative tricks or charistmatic behaviors to advance your own personal interests, then people have every right to be cynical. But if your leadership flows first and foremost from inner character and integrity of ambition, then you can justly ask people to lend themselves to your organization and its mission.
JIM COLLINS
foreward, Hesselbein on Leadership
Little leading makes much following.
LYMAN ABBOTT
Laicus: Or, The Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish
To be a leader of men one must turn one's back on men.
HAVELOCK ELLIS
introduction, Against the Grain
Bad leadership is an oxymoron.
JOSEPH CLARENCE ROST
Leadership for the Twenty-first Century
I see [it said that] leaders should keep their ears to the ground. All I can say is that the ... nation will find it very hard to look up to leaders who are detected in that somewhat ungainly posture.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
speech in House of Commons, Sep. 30, 1941
Leadership is most effective when those acting in that capacity realize that their effect on others must be indirect. This indirectness means influencing others by changing yourself.
GREG ROBINSON & MARK ROSE
A Leadership Paradox
Leadership is not just one quality, but rather a blend of many qualities; and while no one individual possesses all the needed talents to go into leadership, each man can develop a combination to make him a leader.
VINCE LOMBARDI
attributed, Run to Win: Vince Lombardi on Coaching and Leadership