Leadership quotes

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain, and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

Abilities wither under criticism, they blossom under encouragement.

Begin with praise and honest appreciation.

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

Trust is the glue that holds everything together.

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.

Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to the result.

Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.

People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.

A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.

Ego is the enemy of what you want and of what you have.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence.

It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones.

The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.

We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill.

Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance.

Example is the best lesson there is.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.

By leadership we mean the art of getting someone else to do something that you want done because he wants to do it.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.

Change based on principle is progress. Constant change without principle becomes chaos.

May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others.

I'm asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change, but in yours.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'

The price of greatness is responsibility.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.

Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.

The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.

I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.

Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.

Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each one of us individually.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything, wouldn't you, at any time? And you would achieve nothing!

You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning.

This didn't come about because of consensus. It happened because we said: this we believe, this we will do. It's called leadership.

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.

Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn't be that women are the exception.

People ask me sometimes... 'When will there be enough women on the court?' And my answer is, 'When there are nine.'

Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

You manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership.

Reprove your friend in secret and praise him openly.

Any one can get angry, that is easy... but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for every one, nor is it easy.

The chief penalty is to be governed by someone worse if a man will not himself hold office and rule.

The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him.

Governing a large country is like frying a small fish.

When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.

To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious.

If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

Management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization.

A skilled commander seeks victory from the situation and does not demand it of his subordinates.

All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.

If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.

Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

Justice without might is helpless; might without justice is tyrannical.

The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his rule begins.

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are.

We hired truly great people and gave them the room to do great work.

Criticize by category, praise by name.

The purpose of an organization is to enable common men to do uncommon things.

A superior who works on his own development sets an almost irresistible example.

Executives do many things in addition to making decisions. But only executives make decisions.

A manager's task is to make the strengths of people effective and their weakness irrelevant.

Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.

Management has authority only as long as it performs.

Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised.

If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs.

Be stubborn on your vision but flexible on the details.

Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to.

Just because you are CEO, don't think you have landed. You must continually increase your learning, the way you think, and the way you approach the organization.

In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.

Listen to everyone in your company. And figure out ways to get them talking.

Getting the right people in the right jobs is a lot more important than developing a strategy.

Business has to be fun. For too many people, it's 'just a job.'

In manufacturing, we try to stamp out variance. With people, variance is everything.

Arrogance is a killer, and wearing ambition on one's sleeve can have the same effect.

Let him look out for the 'dark horse' in the boy who begins by sweeping out the office.

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

If you want to take credit, first learn to take responsibility.

Employees first, customers second, shareholders third.

Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.

A culture of discipline is not a principle of business, it is a principle of greatness.

Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Definitions belonged to the definers, not the defined.

There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.

Your task is not to foresee the future, but to enable it.

To be a man is, precisely, to be responsible. It is to feel shame at the sight of what seems to be unmerited misery. It is to take pride in a victory won by one's comrades.

We all know that a good example is more effective than advice. So set a good example, and it won't take long for others to follow.

Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.

I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.

Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence.

Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. They didn't do it for the individual glory. They did it because they loved one another.

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.

Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.

Young people need models, not critics.

A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player.

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.

An instructor should exemplify the things he seeks to teach.

It's about putting them in a position to be successful.

Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pelé. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.

Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.

A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.

Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.