1. A good leader inspires others with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves. ~Unknown
2. A leader must... create a new and compelling vision capable of bringing the work force to a new place; develop commitment for the new vision; Institutionalize the new vision ~Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus
3. Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. ~Publius Syrus
4. Approachable leaders put others at ease so they can be at their best. This means initiating rapport, listening, sharing, understanding and comforting. Approachable people get more information, know things earlier, and cant others to do more things. People just like to have then around. Michael Lombardo & Robert Eichinger, in For Your Improvement: A Guide for Development and Coaching; Korn Ferry International.
5. Do not follow where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~Unknown
6. Every man must be his own leader. He now knows enough not to follow other people. He must follow the light that’s within himself, and through this light he will create a new community. ~Laurens Van Der Post
7. Fail to honour people, They fail to honour you; But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, They will all say, we did this ourselves. ~Lao Tzu
8. Full, free self-expression is the essence of leadership. The key to full self-expression is understanding one's self and the world, and the key to understanding is learning from one's own life and experience.
9. If it were desired to reduce man to nothing, it would be necessary only to give his work a character of uselessness. ~Fyodor Dostoevski, House of the Dead
10. If the brutal facts are not faced by leaders, the brutal reality sets in. ~Andy Grove
11. If you want to build a ship, then don't drum up men to gather wood, give orders, and divide the work. Rather, teach them to yearn for the far and endless sea. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery
12. In management there is the soft stuff and the hard stuff; and the soft stuff is harder than the hard stuff.
13. It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead - and find no one there. ~Unknown
14. It is easier to ask forgiveness than to gain permission. ~Grace Hopper
15. Leaders appeal to the higher values, the long-term potential of the individual to feel a part of, a contributor to achievements of mankind. The manager appeals to the immediate needs for income, status, and security.
16. Leaders can deal with adaptive issues not by providing authoritative answers, but by asking hard questions that spur the entire community to rethink its assumptions.
17. Leaders create energy by instilling purpose. Managers control and direct energy.
18. Leaders define success in terms of the accomplishment of a business achievement, the success of a product or service. Managers define success according to measures that are derived from the process of business independent of the content of the business.
19. Leaders don't try to win followers; rather, they inspire others to be leaders.
20. Leaders inspire others to take on the tasks of leadership.
21. Leaders lead by virtue of who they are. ~Kevin Cashman
22. Leaders make ideas tangible and real to others, so that they can support them. For no matter how marvellous the vision, the effective leader must use a metaphor, a work, or a model to make that vision clear to others. ~Unknown
23. Leaders manage the dream. ~Warren Bennis
24. Leaders succeed only when they embody and express, for better or worse, values rooted in the social character of group, class, or nation. ~Michael Maccoby
25. Leadership brings out the creativity of the individual and inspires courage. Management without leadership produces conformity. ~Lawrence M. Miller
26. Leadership has less to do with individualism than with the ability to build and maintain relationships across the organization.
27. Leadership is linked to behaviour, not position.
28. Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people, based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.
29. Leadership is not a spectator sport. ~Kouzes and Posner
30. Leadership is not style, it is actions.
31. Leadership is the ability to influence a group of individuals so that they act of their own free will to achieve shared goals.
32. Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. ~Warren G. Bennis
33. Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
34. Listen. In every office you hear the threads of love and joy and fear and guilt, the cries for celebration and reassurance, and somehow you know that connecting those threads is what you are supposed to do and business takes care of itself. ~From Threads by James Autry
35. Managers are necessary; leaders are essential....Leadership is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision ....Management is of the mind, more a matter of accurate calculation, statistics, methods, timetables and routines. ~Sir William Slim
36. Managing from the Heart
Hear and understand me.
Even if you disagree, please don’t make me wrong.
Acknowledge the greatness within me.
Remember to look for my loving intentions.
Tell me the truth with compassion. Hyler Bracey, Jack Rosenblum, Aubrey Sandord, Roy Trueblook
37. Martin Luther King did not say, I have a strategic plan. Instead, he shouted, I have a DREAM!, and, he created a crusade. ~Unknown source
38. No one will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or get all the credit for doing it. ~Andrew Carnegie
39. Once leaders commit to doing the deeply personal work of cutting through the layers of ego, they begin to clarify how to make an authentic contribution in all their spheres of influence. ~Tom Gegax
40. People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. ~John C. Maxwell
41. One man with courage makes a majority. ~Andrew Jackson
42. Outstanding management skills are an essential component of leadership.
43. People only trust leaders who articulate a moral code, who care about people and are competent in the exercise of power. ~Michael Maccoby
44. People's most important initiatives usually depend upon the support and goodwill of others over whom they have no authority. ~Unknown
45. Power wielders may treat people as things. Leaders may not. ~James MacGregor Burns
46. Sometimes, leadership differs from non-leadership only in that leadership views the world with a slightly larger lens. ~John Carver
47. The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. ~Jim Rohn
48. The essence of leadership is not giving things or even providing visions. It is offering oneself and one’s spirit. ~Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal
49. The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in others the conviction and the will to carry on. ~Walter Lippmann
50. The first and last task of a leader is to keep hope alive. ~John W. Gardner
51. The first responsibility of a leader is to define responsibility. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. ~Max De Pree
52. The heroes and leaders toward peace in our time will be those men and women who have the courage to plunge into the darkness at the bottom of the personal and the coporate psyche and face the enemy within. ~Sam Keen
53. Over time, I came to see that waiting to discover which way the wind was blowing is an excellent way to learn how to be a follower. ~Roger Enrico
54. The leader arouses confidence in followers. The followers feel better able to accomplish whatever goals s/he and they share. ~Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr.; In Search of Excellence
55. The leader PULLS rather than PUSHES people on.
56. The leader sets the stage for predictable miracles. ~Joseph Jaworski – Synchronicity
57. The leader’s job is not for fight for control, but to be a catalyst in the unfolding of meaning. ~Joseph Jaworski – Synchronicity
58. The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground. ~Winston Churchill
59. The primary function of managers is to serve their subordinates.
60. The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.
61. The Ten Commandments of Leadership
Thou cannot accomplish the goals of the organization. You must depend upon those with whom you work.
Thou cannot do all of the process activities. You must delegate authority and responsibility.
Thou cannot succeed without environmental support. You must seek feedback from the environment and you must represent your organization to the environment.
Thou cannot assume you are the only intelligent being in the organization. You must involve other organizational members in the organizational functions.
Thou cannot survive without feedback to members. Evaluation and discussion are critical.
Thou cannot survive without feedback from members. You must create a climate of trust and show a willingness to listen.
Thou cannot satisfy all the people all the time. But you should upset the right people for the right reason.
Thou cannot keep your position forever. You must leave it for the right cause at the right time.
Thou cannot expect everything to go right all of the time. You must not take events personally or allow others to take them personally.
Thou cannot ignore your personal and professional needs. You must maintain your integrity and self in all situations. ~excerpted from The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes & Posner
62. There go my people. I must find out where they are going so that I can lead them. ~Alexandre Ledru-Rollin
63. Throughout history, every great leader has learned that, concommitantly with leaving their footprints in the sands of time, they must invariably leave a few noseprints as well. ~A. D. Mullen, Jr.
64. To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in direction, course, action, opinion.
65. To manage our relationships with others we must first manage our relationship with ourselves.
66. Transforming leadership is a relationship in which leaders and followers morally elevate each other. ~James MacGregor Burns
67. True empowerment is about.... being a leader to oneself; to do the uncommon -- and often difficult -- thing because it is in keeping with one's values, and... doing it skillfully. ~Unknown
68. True leaders have to have a genuine open-door policy so that their people are not afraid to approach them for any reason. ~Harold Geneen
69. We cannot direct the winds, but we can adjust our sails. ~Indian Proverb
70. When you hire people smarter than you are, you prove you are smarter than they are. ~R. H. Grant
71. Whether they realize it or not, middle managers and supervisors are ambassadors of the organization's culture. When they feel strongly about something -- by being either enthusiastic or cynical -- the feeling is contagious. ~Unknown
72. You can hand your staff a map and tell them to go to the mountaintop. Or you can give them boots, a compass, the desire to climb -- and an invitation to come with you. ~Unknown
73. You can handle people more successfully by enlisting their feelings than by convincing their reason. ~Paul P. Parker
74. You can't be motivated by self-interests and expect to be a leader. The instant you feel exempt from the standards of the organization, you cease to be a leader. A leader galvanizes people by living their shared vision. ~Cheryl Breetwor, ShareData Corp.
75. You can't manage a man into combat, you must lead him. You manage things; you lead people. ~Grace Hopper