looking for leaders in all the right places leadership quotes

04/11/23 1

“Understand the power of our smallest actions: Amidst uncertainty, when people are grasping at straws in an effort to understand the topsy-turvy world about them, their symbolic significance is monumental.”

-Tom Peters, Thriving in Chaos

04/11/23 2

“In simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, and gets up, and goes.”

-John Erksine, The Complete Life

04/11/23 3

“The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says, 'Go!' - a leader says, 'Let's go!”

-E. M. Kelly, Growing Disciples, 1995

04/11/23 4

“Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing.”

- Warren Bennis, Leaders

04/11/23 5

“Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.”

-Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf

04/11/23 6

“Example is Leadership.”

-Albert Schweitzer

04/11/23 7

“The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the point that they eventually surpass him or her in knowledge and ability.”

-Fred A. Manske, Jr

04/11/23 8

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”

-Max De Pree, Leadership Is an Art

04/11/23 9

“Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens, people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.”

-Warren Bennis

04/11/23 10

“The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players.”

-Blaine Lee, The Power Principle

04/11/23 11

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

-Dwight D Eisenhower

04/11/23 12

“You can’t talk about leadership without talking about responsibility and accountability…you can’t separate the two. A leader must delegate responsibility and provide the freedom to make decisions, and then be held accountable for the results.”

- Buck Rodgers

04/11/23 13

“You don’t have to hold a position to be a leader.”

- Anthony D’Angelo,

The College Blue Book

04/11/23 14

“When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.”

- Lao Tse

04/11/23 15

“The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him people of conviction who will carry on.”

- Walter J. Lippmann

04/11/23 16

“Whether a man is burdened by power or enjoys power; whether he is trapped by responsibility or made free by it; whether he is moved by other people and outer forces or moves them--this is of the essence of leadership.”

-Theodore H. White, The Making of the President, 1960

04/11/23 17

“A leader is someone who steps back from the entire system and tries to build a more collaborative, more innovative system that will work over the long term.”

-Robert Reich

04/11/23 18

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all by himself, or to get credit for doing it.”

-Andrew Carnegie

04/11/23 19

“Very few of the great leaders ever get through their careers without failing, sometimes dramatically.”

-Philip Crosby, Reflections on Quality

04/11/23 20

“Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.”

-Harold Geneen, Founder, MCI Communications

04/11/23 21

“The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.”

- Ray Kroc, Founder, McDonalds

04/11/23 22

“At the core of becoming a leader is the need always to connect one’s voice and one’s touch.”

-Max DePree, Leadership Jazz

04/11/23 23

“Effective leaders have a clear vision and are able to communicate that vision to the members of the team. They develop a sense of urgency about the team’s work, involve team members in goal setting and decision making, and foster a climate of openness. People want to work for them…they have charisma!”

-Glenn M. Parker, Cross Functional Teams

04/11/23 24

“What creates trust, in the end, is the leader’s manifest respect for the followers.”

-Jim O’Toole, Leading Change

04/11/23 25

“I set as the goal the maximum capacity that people have--I settle for no less. I make myself a relentless architect of the possibilities of human beings.”

- Benjamin Zander, Conductor, Boston Philharmonic

04/11/23 26

“If you really want to be a successful leader, you must develop other leaders around you. You must establish a team of leaders!”

-John C. Maxwell, Developing the Leaders Around You

04/11/23 27

“I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.”

-Lee Iacocca

04/11/23 28

“A 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 Carter

04/11/23 29

“Leaders must be tough enough to fight, tender enough to cry, human enough to make mistakes, humble enough to admit them, strong enough to absorb the pain, and resilient enough to bounce back and keep on moving.”

-Jesse Jackson

04/11/23 30

“The secret of a leader lies in the tests he has faced over the whole course of his life and the habit of action he develops in meeting those tests.”

- Gail Sheehy

04/11/23 31

“You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.”

-Ken Kesey

04/11/23 32

“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”

- John Maxwell

04/11/23 33

“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

-Vince Lombardi

04/11/23 34

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

- John Quincy Adams

04/11/23 35

“Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.”

- Marian Anderson

04/11/23 36

“The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.”

- Elaine Agather

04/11/23 37

“Great necessities call forth great leaders.”

- Abigail Adams

04/11/23 38

“I suppose that leadership at one time meant muscle; but today it means getting along with people.” 

-Indira Gandhi

04/11/23 39

“The minute a person whose word means a great deal to others dare to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow.”

-Marian Anderson

04/11/23 40

“Whoever is providing leadership needs to be as fresh and thoughtful and reflective as possible to make the very best fight.”

- Faye Wattleton

04/11/23 41

“When leaders take back power, when they act as heroes and saviors, they end up exhausted, overwhelmed, and deeply stressed.”

- Margaret J. Wheatley

04/11/23 42

“Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.”

- Rosabeth Moss Kantor

04/11/23 43

“The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says, 'Go!' - a leader says, 'Let's go!”

-E. M. Kelly, Growing Disciples, 1995