Favorite Leadership Quotes
Leadership is defined as the capacity to lead others. It is the act or instance of guiding. There are so many definitions of leadership that it is hard to get a handle on just what leadership entails. Here are some of my favorite leadership quotes.
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“Leaders are those who know what to do next, know why that is important, and know what appropriate resources to bring to bear on the problem at hand. Then, through effective communication they influence others to follow.” – Barry Bowater
“If you stop learning today, you stop leading tomorrow.” – Howard Hendricks
“It is not such a fearsome thing to lead once you see your leadership as part of God’s overall plan for his world.” – Calvin Miller
“Good leadership is motivating and mobilizing others to accomplish a task or to think in ways that are for the benefit of all concerned.” – Don Page
“Effective leadership is the only competitive advantage that will endure. That’s because leadership has two sides – what a person is (character) and what a person does (competence).” – Stephen Covey
“I believe that you get greater effectiveness in your work when you tie people’s personal mission with the corporate mission.” Richard Barrett, former values coordinator at the World Bank as quoted in the Globe and Mail, June 11, 1999 p.M1.
“Where there is no leadership the people fall, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” – Proverbs 11:14
“A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.” Thomas Carlyle
“Leadership is an engine for creative change.”
“People first, strategy second.” The motto of successful CEOs, Fortune, June 21,1999. p.74.
“Leadership . . . consists of the principles, skills, and attitudes that harness and integrate knowledge, trust and power.” – D.E. Zand in Leadership Triad: Knowledge, Trust, and Power. p. 5.
“Leadership means staying out in front as well as only doing what we can do well.”- Margot Northey, Dean of Queen’s School of Business.
“Some men see the world as it is and ask why; others see the world as it might be and ask why not.” – Bernard Shaw
“Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Dwight Eisenhower
“Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but what you should have accomplished with your ability.” John Wooden
“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” John Wooden
“Success is a journey, not a destination.” Ben Sweetland
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” Winston Churchill
“Leadership is not something that you learn once and for all. It is an ever-evolving pattern of skills, talents, and ideas that grow and change as you do.” Sheila Murray Bethel
“From now on, any definition of a successful life must include serving others.” President George Bush
“Our earlier belief that leadership comes about primarily through managerial ability has been replaced by an awareness of skills needed for understanding people and dealing with their problems productively.” Academic Leader, p. 3, Sept. 1994.
“It is not where you are today that counts. It is where you are headed.”
“The distance a person goes is not as important as the direction.”
“Women have for centuries been recognized as talented listeners, nurturers, motivators, excellent communicators. These very qualities that we once were told were unbusinesslike are precisely the qualities that business needs most to tap human potential.” Mary Cunningham Agee
“Supervisors who want the best out of people have to lead, not push. It is harder to do, and it takes a lot more skill. But it is worth the effort.” – Leadership With a Human Touch, January 18, 1994.
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.” Robert Townsend
“You don’t have to be brilliant to be a good leader. But you do have to understand other people – how they feel, what makes them tick, and the best way to influence them.” Leadership, January 19, 1993.
“One of the most important functions of a leader is to make his or her organization concentrate on its objectives.”
“You are not finished when you are defeated. You’re finished when you quit.” Leadership, June 6, 1995, p. 24.
“A good leader is not the person who does things right, but the one who finds the right things to do.” Leadership, August 1, 1995, p. 12
“An ability to embrace new ideas, routinely challenge old ones, and live with paradox will be the effective leaders premier trait.” Tom Peters
“Real leaders have no need to advertise their leadership except by their conduct, sympathy, understanding, and ability.” Leadership, January 16, 1996, p. 7.
“A leader lives with people to know their problems. A leader lives with God in order to solve them.” John Maxwell
“Leadership is not found in position; it is found in action and influence.” Glen Martin and Gary MacIntosh in the Issachar Factor.
“Any successful journey of continual improvement shows five components: a vision of a desired end state; knowledge of where we are now, our present – state; a road map for strategic intent; an internal drive system; a value system of principles.” Robert R. Thompson, Executive Excellence, July, 1995, p. 19.
“Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.” Warren G. Bennis in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 10.
“Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.” George Bush in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 11.
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” Kenneth Blanchard in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 18.
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” John Maxwell in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 26.
“The single most important factor in determining the climate of an organization is the top executive.” Charles Galloway in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 28.
“The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind in other people the convictions and the will to carry on.” Quoted in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 60.
“Ability may get you to the top–but it takes character to keep you there.” Quoted in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 78.
“The highest compliment leaders can receive is the one that is given by the people who work for them.” Quoted in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 109.
“The successful leader is the one who makes the right move at the right moment with the right motive.” Quoted in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 111.
“The first step to leadership is servanthood.” John Maxwell in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 122.
“The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.” Ray Kroc in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 148.
“The size of a leader is determined by the depth of his convictions, the height of his ambitions, the breadth of his vision and the reach of his love.” D. N. Jackson in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 155.
“If you don’t choose to do it in leadership time up front, you do it in crisis management time down the road.” Stephen Covey
“Everything rises and falls on leadership.” John Maxwell
“Managers are people who do things right, and leaders are people who do the right thing.” Warren Bennis
“The leadership that frees people to be their best, affirms them in their diversity and includes them in the dreams, decisions and benefits of the organization is a servant leader.” James M. Childs, Jr.
“Servant leadership propels organizational success.” Ken Blanchard
“The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” Faye Whattleton
“Eventually relationships determine the size and the length of leadership.” John C. Maxwell
“It is always easy to do right when you know ahead of time what you stand for.” Don Meyer
“Leadership is influence.” John C. Maxwell
“Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” Bill Bradley (US Senator)
“Leadership is: knowing what to do next, knowing why it is important, and knowing how to bring appropriate resources to bear on the need at hand.” Bobb Biehl in Minute Motivators.
“The world of the 1990s and beyond will not belong to ‘managers’ or those who can make the numbers dance. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders-people who not only have enormous amounts of energy but who can energize those whom they lead.” Jack Welch
“Leadership has less to do with position than it has with disposition.” John C. Maxwell
“Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes.” by J. C Rost in Leadership for the Twenty-First Century. p.102.
“We lose sight of the most important factors that lead to successful leadership: commitment, a passion to make a difference, a vision for achieving positive change, and the courage to take action.” by Larraine Matusak in Finding Your Voice: Learning to Lead Anywhere You Want to Make a Difference. p. 7.
“While great leaders may be as rare as great runners, great actors, or great painters, everyone has leadership potential, just as everyone has some ability at running, acting, and painting.” by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus in Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge. p. 222.
“Commitment in the face of challenge produces character.” John C. Maxwell
