Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

leadership

Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.

Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

It is the responsibility of leadership to provide opportunity, and the responsibility of individuals to contribute.

Leaders grasp nettles.

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.

The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.

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

If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

Don't find fault, find a remedy.

Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

Charlatanism of some degree is indispensable to effective leadership.

Our democracy poses problems and these problems must and shall be solved by courageous leadership.

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.

A leader is a dealer in hope.

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

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.

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

Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

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

What helps people, helps business.

You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.

You're only as good as the people you hire.

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

The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.

The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.

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

No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.

Absolute identity with one's cause is the first and great condition of successful leadership.

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

My four years in the Marine Corps left me with an indelible understanding of the value of leadership skills.

The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.

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

To succeed in business it is necessary to make others see things as you see them.

Example is leadership.

If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it.

If you command wisely, you'll be obeyed cheerfully.

If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.

In fair weather prepare for foul.

Leadership is intangible, and therefore no weapon ever designed can replace it.

You have to have your heart in the business and the business in your heart.

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

I want to deploy the leadership to meet the challenges that face us and to restore America's greatness.

There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.

Education is the mother of leadership.

Leadership is particularly necessary to ensure ready acceptance of the unfamiliar and that which is contrary to tradition.

The very exercise of leadership fosters capacity for it.

The secret of my success is a two word answer: Know people.

A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.

Go as far as you can see when you get there, you'll be able to see farther.

The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.

My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never.

Strong convictions precede great actions.