Leadership Quotes

Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic; it can be mitigated by reason and evaluation.

~ Vannevar Bush

After Peter came to recognize his own inadequacy, his utter inability to fulfill his destiny apart from obedience to his only true responsibility, he became a rock-solid leader. As his story unfolds in the book of acts, we can clearly see that when Peter kept his eyes on Jesus and followed Him, others followed to. And they followed by the thousands. Needed today: more Peters.

~ Charles R. Swindoll

Yes, in all my research, the greatest leaders looked inward and were able to tell a good story with authenticity and passion.

~ Depak Chopras

Without courage, it doesn't matter how good the leader's intentions are.

~ Orrin Woodward

Winners see the dream and develop plans while the rest see the obstacles and develop justifications.

~ Orrin Woodward

Today this courtyard was filled with great warriors. What is more? But it was not filled with great men who have the heart to rule a kingdom. Any man can kill, Finnikin. It is a stroke, an action with one's hand. But not every man knows how to lead.

~ Melina Marchetta

You accomplish exactly as much as the people who serve you decide you'll accomplish, and nothing more.

~ Orson Scott Card

He was not ill-fitted to be the head and representative of a community which owed its origin and progress, and its present state of development, not to the impulses of youth, but to the stern and tempered energies of manhood and the sombre sagacity of age; accomplishing so much, precisely because it imagined and hoped so little.

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

[Ella Baker]'s second defining characteristic was her dislike of top-down leadership... 'She felt leaders were not appointed but the rose up. Someone will rise. Someone will emerge'. It was an attitude Baker shared with some of the older women in the movement.

~ Gail Collins

(Vice President) Garner has taken his personal smallness, his lack of generosity, and forged it into a political principle. He has no imagination, no convictions, and he substitutes political cynicism for social understanding.

~ Hamilton Basso

Our greatest limitation isn't the leader of the lives, it is the spirit within us.

~ John F. Macarthur Jr.

You don’t become the person you wish to become, you become the person you choose to become. True leadership does not come true wishes, it comes by choices!

~ Israelmore Ayivor

Only those who play win. Only those who risk win. History favors risk-takers. Forgets the timid. Everything else is commentary.

~ Iveta Cherneva

Leaders lead when they take positions, when they connect with their tribes, and when they help the tribe connect to itself.

~ Seth Godin

Victim fall in love with excuses

~ Robin S. Sharma

Abraham Lincoln was asked by an aide about the church service he had attended. Lincoln responded that the minister was inspired, interesting, well-prepared, eloquent and the topic relevant. The aide said, “Then it was a good service?”Lincoln responded, “No.” The aide protested,“But, Mr. President, you said that the minister was inspired, interesting, well-prepared, eloquent, and that the topic was relevant.”“Yes,” replied Lincoln, “but he didn’t challenge us to do any great thing.

~ Abraham Lincoln

The essence of community, its heart and soul, is the non-monetary exchange of value; things we do and share because we care for others, and for the good of the place.

~ Dee Hock

To have reservations is to show true leadership. To have certainty without question, to lead people to battle with no qualms, or to prosecute without hesitation are qualities of a tyrant.

~ Laura Kreitzer

No less a bold and pugnacious figure than Winston Churchill broke down and was unable to finish his remarks at the sendoff of the British Expeditionary Force into the maelstrom of World War I in Europe.

~ Barbara W. Tuchman

Humiliation is the only ladder to honoring God's Kingdom.

~ Andrew Murray

Any man who has ever led an army, an expedition, or a group of Boy Scouts has sadism in his bones.

~ Tahir Shah

Men of God are not just born, they are formed

~ John Paul Warren

Asking questions will get you the performance you are after far more than dictating demands.

~ Dan James

His special gift was the ability to see the essence of a worthwhile suggestion and to relate it to what was already in existence or planned. Then he would encourage and shape the new project, repeatedly redesigning the curriculum so that a new department or course could have a comfortable place in which to grow and offer it benefits.

~ Charles Bracelen Flood

I believe it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world depended on him. Admittedly, one man by himself cannot do the job. However, one man can make a difference. We must live for the future of the human race, and not for our own comfort or success.

~ Hyman G. Rickover

One of the fundamental aspects of leadership, I realized more and more, is the ability to instill confidence in others when you yourself are feeling insecure

~ Howard Schultz

A leader should demonstrate his thoughts and opinions through his actions, not through his words.

~ Jack Weatherford

As I have earlier noted, the most important things in life and in business can’t be measured. The trite bromide 'If you can measure it, you can manage it' has been a hindrance in the building a great real-world organization, just as it has been a hindrance in evaluating the real-world economy. It is character, not numbers, that make the world go ‘round. How can we possibly measure the qualities of human existence that give our lives and careers meaning? How about grace, kindness, and integrity? What value do we put on passion, devotion, and trust? How much do cheerfulness, the lilt of a human voice, and a touch of pride add to our lives? Tell me, please, if you can, how to value friendship, cooperation, dedication, and spirit. Categorically, the firm that ignores the intangible qualities that the human beings who are our colleagues bring to their careers will never build a great workforce or a great organization.

~ John C. Bogle

To be an enduring, great company, you have to build a mechanism for preventing or solving problems that will long outlast any one individual leader.

~ Howard Schultz

To function efficiently, any group of people or employees must have faith in their leader.- Capt. Bligh(ret.)

~ Robert Lynn Asprin

A critical element in nearly all effective social movements is leadership. For it is through smart, persistent, and authoritative leaders that a movement generates the appropriate concepts and language that captures the frustration, anger, or fear of the group's members and places responsibility where it is warranted.

~ David E. Wilkins

His (Lenin's)humanitarianism was a very abstract passion. It embraced humanity in general but he seems to have had little love for, or even interest in, humanity in particular. He saw the people with whom he dealt, his comrades, not as individuals but as receptacles for his ideas. On that basis, and no other, they were judged. He judged man not by their moral qualities but by their views, or rather the degree to which they accepted his.

~ Paul Johnson

All that technical expertise isn't worth a damn if you don't get the best out of people, though. . . . These were leaders who saw strength in ordinary people and showed them how to break tyranny.

~ Noël Coward

Finally, the president added, 'The American people are idealists, but they also want their leaders to be realistic...

~ Bob Woodward

Bailey might not have great intelligence or abilities, but his whole aim, thought and study was that of the born leader--to look out for himself; and he did it with that born-leader's confidence and intensity that draws along the ordinary uncertain man, who soon confuses his own interest and his own safety with that of the leader.

~ James Gould Cozzens

Your mission statement, vision statement, core values, and service standards provide a clear focus for all while keeping your team humble and hungry. It creates that family environment in which your employees enjoy coming to work and dealing with the challenges they face each day.

~ Amber Hurdle

If your culture is how you do business internally, your brand is what people believe about you externally.

~ Amber Hurdle

You can’t be “it” for everyone. In fact, if you try to please everyone, you will please no one, especially yourself.

~ Amber Hurdle

You’ve got to get your team to not only understand your company brand, but also to understand their personal brand.

~ Amber Hurdle

Even if you delegate that responsibility, ultimately you are the one responsible for howyour brand is portrayed.

~ Amber Hurdle