Inspirations

The chief executive who knows his strengths and weaknesses as a leader is likely to be far more effective than the one who remains blind to them. He also is on the road to humility, that priceless attitude of openness to life that can help a manage r absorb mistakes, failures, or personal shortcomings.

- John Adair

A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.

- Ken Adelman

Skill in the art of communication is crucial to a leader's success. He can accomplish nothing unless he can communicate effectively.

- Norman Allen

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

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

- Saint Augustine

A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn't go by yourself.

- Joel A Barker

The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.

- Joe Batten

Managers are people who do things right; leaders are people who do the right thing.

- Warren Bennis

Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it.

- Warren Bennis

The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

- Warren Bennis

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.

- Warren Bennis

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

- Bible

A leader is a dealer in hope.

- Napoleon Bonaparte

An order that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.

- Napoleon Bonaparte

Six traits of effective leaders: 1. Make others feel important. 2. Promote a vision. 3. Follow the golden rule. 4. Admit mistakes. 5. Criticize others only in private. 6. Stay close to the action. Example has more followers than reason. We unconsciously imitate what pleases us, and approximate to the characters we most admire.

- Christian Nevell Bovee

The successful man doesn't use others, other people use the successful man, for above all the success is of service.

- Mark Caine

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

- James Crook

Leaders don't inflict pain, they share pain.

- Max Depree

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

- Diogenes of Sinope

The man who follows a crowd will never be followed by a crowd.

- R S Donnell

Leadership is not magnetic personality--that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not making friends and influencing people, that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.

- Peter F Drucker

Each person must decide for himself what he wants each day. As a leader, I will expose you to the options and the likely consequences of those options. I'll even share my opinion if asked, but I'll never confuse it with the opinion, which simply doesn't exist.

- Wayne Dyer

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

- Dwight D Eisenhower

The measure of a great leader, is their success in bringing everyone around to their opinion twenty years later.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.

- Sam Ervin

A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group.

- Russell H Ewing

Who has not served cannot command.

- John Florio

The person who renders loyal service in a humble capacity will be chosen for higher responsibilities, just as the biblical servant who multiplied the one pound given him by his master was made ruler over ten cities...

- B C Forbes

Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving.

- Henry Ford

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

- John Kenneth Galbraith

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

- Mahatma Gandhi

I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.

- Harold S Geneen

A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.

- Arnold H Glasgow

The leader seeks to communicate his vision to his followers. He captures their attention with his optimistic intuition of possible solutions to their needs. He influences them by the dynamism of his faith. He demonstrates confidence that the challenge can be met, the need resolved, the crisis overcome.

- John Haggai

Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.

- Robert Half

Those who can command themselves command others.

- William Hazlitt

Ethics must begin at the top of an organization. It is a leadership issue and the chief executive must set the example.

- Edward Hennessy

There is great force hidden in a gentle command.

- George Herbert

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.

- Theodore M Hesburgh

One secret of leadership is that the mind of a leader never turns off. Leaders even when they are sightseers or spectators, are active; not passive observers.

- James Humes

I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

- Lee Iacocca

Leaders create an environment which everyone has the opportunity to do work which matches his potential capability and for which an equitable differential reward is provided.

- Elliott Jaques

Morale is faith in the man at the top.

- Albert S Johnstone

Leaders are readers.

- Charles Tremendous Jones

Keep cool and you will command everyone.

- Justinian

The highest of distinctions is service to others.

- King George VI

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

- Henry Kissinger

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

- Henry Kissinger

Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control.

- Tom Landry

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him. But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.

- Lao-Tzu

When the best leader's work is done the people say, ''We did it ourselves.''

- Lao-Tzu

To lead people walk behind them.

- Lao-Tzu

I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.

- Lao-Tzu

A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.

- Ralph Lauren

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.

- Walter Lippmann

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

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.

- Wayne Lukas

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

- John C Maxwell

Leadership is action, not position.

- Donald H Mcgannon

The real leader has no need to lead, he is content to point the way.

- Henry Miller

To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn't know where he is going.

- Joe Namath

Show me the leader and I will know his men. Show me the men and I will know their leader.

- Arthur W Newcomb

A great leader never sets himself above his followers except in carrying responsibilities.

- Jules Ormont

The high sentiments always win in the end, the leaders who offer blood, toil, tears, and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

- George Orwell

A prince should be slow to punish, and quick to reward.

- Ovid

Leadership appears to be the art of getting others to want to do something you are convinced should be done.

- Vance Packard

The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are. They are frank in admitting this and are willing to pay for such talents.

- Amos Parrish

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

- George S Patton

Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.

- Thomas J Peters

The best leaders, almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.

- Thomas J Peters

The person who has no enemies has no followers.

- Don Piatt

When a blind man bears the standard, pity those who follow.

- French Proverb

You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.

- Sam Rayburn

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

- Jim Rohn

Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.

- Jim Rohn

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

Perhaps in His wisdom the Almighty is trying to show us that a leader may chart the way, may point out the road to lasting peace, but that many leaders and many peoples must do the building.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead -- and find no one there.

- Franklin D Roosevelt

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

- Theodore Roosevelt

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

- Theodore Roosevelt

The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist. They turn to each other and say We did it ourselves.

- Zen Saying

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

- Norman Schwarzkopf

When placed in command, take charge.

- Norman Schwarzkopf

The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says ''I''; The leader says ''WE''. The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says, ''GO''; the leader says lets, ''GO!''

- H Gordon Selfridge

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

What you cannot enforce, do not command.

- Sophocles

The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.

- Henri B Stendhal

Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm.

- Publilius Syrus

Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.

- Publius Cornelius Tacitus

I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.

- Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

Certainly a leader needs a clear vision of the organization and where it is going, but a vision is of little value unless it is shared in a way so as to generate enthusiasm and commitment. Leadership and communication are inseparable.

- Claude Taylor

Leadership is the activity of influencing people to cooperate towards some goal which they come to find desirable and which motivates them over the long haul.

- Orway Tead

True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.

- Robert Townsend

Successful leaders have the courage to take action where others hesitate.

- Source Unknown

Outstanding leaders appeal to the hearts of their followers, not their minds.

- Source Unknown

Leadership is like the old galley ships. 100s are rowing, but only one (the captain) knows where they are going

- Source Unknown

Every leader needs to look back once in a while to make sure he has followers. Source Unknown Effective leaders are known by the questions they ask rather than the statements they make.

- Source Unknown

A leader has been defined as one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

- Source Unknown

The best leader is the one who has the sense to surround himself with outstanding people and self-restraint not to meddle with how they do their jobs.

- Source Unknown

Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.

- J Donald Walters

Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.

- Sam Walton

Leadership is a serving relationship that has the effect of facilitating human development.

- Ted Ward

Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.

- William A Ward

The world of the 90s and beyond will belong to managers or those who make the numbers dance, as we used to say, or those who are conversant with all the business jargon we used to sound smart. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders, people who not only have an enormous amount of energy but who can energize those whom they lead.

- John Welch

Education is the mother of leadership.

- Wendell L Willkie

No man has ever risen to the real stature of spiritual manhood until he has found that it is finer to serve somebody else than it is to serve himself.

- Woodrow T Wilson

Inspire-U-2-Lead

Get Inspired for Virtue 4: Justice and Civic Strengths

A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.

Skill in the art of communication is crucial to a leader's success. He can accomplish nothing unless he can communicate effectively.

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

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn't go by yourself.

The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.

Managers are people who do things right; leaders are people who do the right thing.

Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it.

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

A leader is a dealer in hope.

An order that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.

The successful man doesn't use others, other people use the successful man, for above all the success is of service.

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

Leaders don't inflict pain, they share pain.

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

The man who follows a crowd will never be followed by a crowd.

Each person must decide for himself what he wants each day. As a leader, I will expose you to the options and the likely consequences of those options. I'll even share my opinion if asked, but I'll never confuse it with the opinion, which simply doesn't exist.

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

The measure of a great leader, is their success in bringing everyone around to their opinion twenty years later.

A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.

A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group.

Who has not served cannot command.

The person who renders loyal service in a humble capacity will be chosen for higher responsibilities, just as the biblical servant who multiplied the one pound given him by his master was made ruler over ten cities...

Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving.

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.

A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.

Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.

Those who can command themselves command others.

Ethics must begin at the top of an organization. It is a leadership issue and the chief executive must set the example.

There is great force hidden in a gentle command.

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.

One secret of leadership is that the mind of a leader never turns off. Leaders even when they are sightseers or spectators, are active; not passive observers.

I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

Leaders create an environment which everyone has the opportunity to do work which matches his potential capability and for which an equitable differential reward is provided.

Morale is faith in the man at the top.

Leaders are readers.

Keep cool and you will command everyone.

The highest of distinctions is service to others.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him. But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.

When the best leader's work is done the people say, ''We did it ourselves.''

To lead people walk behind them.

A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.

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.

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.

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

Leadership is action, not position.

The real leader has no need to lead, he is content to point the way.

To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn't know where he is going.

Show me the leader and I will know his men. Show me the men and I will know their leader.

A great leader never sets himself above his followers except in carrying responsibilities.

The high sentiments always win in the end, the leaders who offer blood, toil, tears, and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

A prince should be slow to punish, and quick to reward.

Leadership appears to be the art of getting others to want to do something you are convinced should be done.

The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are. They are frank in admitting this and are willing to pay for such talents.

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.

The best leaders, almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.

The person who has no enemies has no followers.

When a blind man bears the standard, pity those who follow.

You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.

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.

Perhaps in His wisdom the Almighty is trying to show us that a leader may chart the way, may point out the road to lasting peace, but that many leaders and many peoples must do the building.

It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead -- and find no one there.

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist. They turn to each other and say We did it ourselves.

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

When placed in command, take charge.

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.