Leadership Quotes

The time to lead is now.

~ Joelle Charbonneau

Somebody needs to be in charge! They may not always like what you’re doing, but press on!” My late uncle, CSM, US Army (Ret) Harris L. Parker, Airborne Ranger, aka Hardcore

~ Deborah L. Parker

Leaders don't need a path. They make one.

~ Tim Fargo

The sign of a good leader is easy to recognize, though it is hardly ever seen. For the greatest leaders are those who share as equals in the trials and struggles, the demands and expectations, the hills and trenches, the laws and punishments placed upon the backs of those governed. A great leader is motivated not by power but by compassion. Therefore he can do nothing but make himself a servant to those whom he rules. Such a leader is unequivocally respected, and loved for loving.

~ Richelle E. Goodrich

Great is a great one whose great ones are great

~ John Stein

The more varied the environments in which you exercise your leadership gift, the stronger that gift will become. You will become a far more effective leader.

~ Bill Hybels

Malicious or not, strong leaders always attracted followers

~ Richelle Mead

What I’m suggesting is that the essence of leadership is soundness and that the essence of soundness is soul, which paradoxical as you might think it is, is that child within.

~ Tim Macartney-Snape

Fatigue could be the dealmaker's friend.

~ H.w. Brands

In five minutes you should know if people have confirmed, calculated & considered your vision.

~ Onyi Anyado

How you react when your back is against the wall will determine if you see what's actually over the wall.

~ Onyi Anyado

What the average call excellent, the excellent call average.

~ Onyi Anyado

You need to choose your association according to your vision.

~ Onyi Anyado

My role as a role model is to teach my generation how to excel in the role of distinction.

~ Onyi Anyado

One of the things I've learned about vision is people will grab it mentally or, have a crab mentality.

~ Onyi Anyado

Greatness is unleashed when you develop faith in the power of your faith.

~ Phumi Ngwane

As a leader, if you can no longer inspire your people it is time to step aside and let someone else take the lead

~ Thomas Narofsky

Lead by inspiration, not intimidation.

~ Rebecca Aguilar

Somehow we American pastors, without really noticing what was happening, got our vocations redefined in the terms of American careerism. We quit thinking of the parish as a location for pastoral spirituality and started thinking of it as an opportunity for advancement. Tarshish, not Nineveh, was the destination. The moment we did that, we started thinking wrongly, for the vocation of pastor has to do with living out the implications of the word of God in community, not sailing off into the exotic seas of religion in search of fame and fortune.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

There is a long and well-documented tradition of wisdom in the Christian faith that any venture into leadership, whether by laity or clergy, is hazardous. it is necessary that there be leaders, but woe to those who become leaders.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Deception is nowhere more common than in religion. And the persons most easily and damningly deceived are the leaders. Those who deceive others are first themselves deceived, for not many, I think, begin with evil intent. The devil, after all, is a spiritual being. His usual mode of temptation is not an obvious evil but to an apparent good. The commonest forms of devil-inspired worship do not take place furtively at black masses with decapitated cats but flourish under the bright lights of acclaim and glory, in a swirl of organ music.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Pastors enter congregations vocationally in order to embrace the totality of human life in Jesus' name. We are convinced there is no detail, however unpromising, in people's lives in which Christ may not work his will. Pastors agree to stay with the people in their communities week in and week out, year in and year out, to proclaim and guide, encourage and instruct as God work his purposes (gloriously, it will eventually turn out) in the meandering and disturbingly inconstant lives of our congregations.This necessarily means taking seriously, and in faith, the dull routines, the empty boredom, and the unattractive responsibilities that make up much of most people's lives. It means witnessing to the transcendent in the fog and rain. It means living hopefully among people who from time to time get flickering glimpses of the Glory but then live through stretches, sometimes long ones, of unaccountable grayness. Most pastor work takes place in obscurity: deciphering grace in the shadows, searching out meaning in a difficult text, blowing on the embers of a hard-used life. This is hard work and not conspicuously glamorous.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Church leaders raised on rationalism lead ministries where the supernatural, the Vertical, is suppressed and where God Himself is at best an observer and certainly seldom, if ever, and obvious participant in church.

~ James Macdonald

As a leader it is your job to protect the missional integrity of the Jesus gathering to which you have been called. It is your responsibility to see to it that the church under your care continues as a gathering of people in process; a place where the curious,the unconvinced, the sceptical, the used-to-believe and the broken, as well as the committed, informed and sold-out come together around Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

~ Andy Stanley

Authentic leaders are often accused of being controlling by those who idly sit by and do nothing

~ John Paul Warren

Jesus did not command us to develop leaders. He commanded us to make disciples. The world develops leaders, the Church disciples them. The two are not the same.

~ John Paul Warren

To instill the values for the culture was and is the responsibility of the leadership, and staff alignment was critical to its success. It started with both board and staff. They realized that they needed to share the same value system that says, “I am the equipper, not the doer.” If not, there were going to be immense roadblocks to effectively mobilizing people for ministry.

~ Sue Mallory

If you want your ministry to have ‘it’, more important than anything else we’ve discussed, you must have ‘it’. When it has filtered through your heart - the rare combination of passion, integrity, focus, faith, expectation, drive, hunger, and God’s anointing - God tends to infuse your ministry with ‘it’. He blesses your work. People are changed. Leaders grow. Resources flow. The ministry seems to take on a life of its own.

~ Craig Groeschel

A missionary church cannot rely on the professional ministry for the primary work of mission. The role of the laity is critical because it is the lay members of the church who have the greatest contact with those who are outside of the normal structures of church life. In such a situation the task of clergy is not so much to engage in mission themselves, as to support the laity in their mission.

~ Martin Robinson

The ultimate test of a transformational leader is the ability to raise up a new generation of leaders.

~ Jim Louwsma

Significance is not determined by the amount of time on stage but by what you do with the time you get.

~ Mansur Hasib

Being others-focused instead of self-focused changes your worldview. Living in a selfless manner and seeking to help others enriches our very existence on a daily basis. Get your hands dirty once in a while by serving in a capacity that is lower than your position or station in life. This keeps you tethered to the real world and grounded to reality, which should make it harder to be prideful and forget where you came from.

~ Miles Anthony Smith

If you can’t handle others’ disapproval, then leadership isn’t for you.

~ Miles Anthony Smith

We all have something to offer, and we must choose to focus on what we do have to offer, not what we don’t. And remember the dirty little secret is that those who are acting like they have it all together really don’t.

~ Miles Anthony Smith

Build Icebergs, Not Skyscrapers

~ Miles Anthony Smith

Adversity Isn’t to Be Avoided

~ Miles Anthony Smith

Be Chris LeDoux, Not Garth Brooks

~ Miles Anthony Smith

Selfish Apologies Aren’t Apologies at All

~ Miles Anthony Smith

Show Us, Don’t Tell Us

~ Miles Anthony Smith

Be a Strong Leader, Even If You Follow a Weak Leader

~ Miles Anthony Smith