Frances Hesselbein

When people are speaking, they require our undivided attention. We focus on them; we listen very carefully. We listen to the spoken words and the unspoken messages. This means looking directly at the person, eyes connected; we forget we have a watch, just focusing for that moment on that person.

It takes courage for a leader to identify and confront self-imposed barriers, to put in place the personal strategies required to unleash the energy, innovation, and commitment to self-development.

Women are working for part or all of their adult lives now. The possibilities are limitless, but you need to prepare.

The real leader redefines or defines the mission in a very powerful way so that people understand it; it permeates the organization.

Leadership is not a basket of tricks or strategies or skills that you pull out. Leadership begins with the quality of the person.

Social-sector organizations have to be better managed than for-profit organizations... because they have no margin of error.

In my life, I don't have roadblocks and obstacles. I might have something you would call a 'challenge.' I throw that out the window, and I call that a wonderful opportunity.

At a young age, I learned from my grandmother that I should respect all people. Her lessons were defining moments in my life and determined the type of leader that I would become.

The leader builds dispersed and diverse leadership - distributing leadership to the outermost edges of the circle to unleash the power of shared responsibility.

Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do it.

Planning defines the particular place you want to be and how you intend to get there. It's a responsibility rather than a technique.

If you are building a corporate culture of greatness, you have to define culture on your own terms and with the people you work with.

No matter what business you're in, everyone in the organisation needs to know why

Move beyond the old assumptions, practices, and language that can be barriers to equal access.

I didn't have a career plan. But what I did was, whenever there was a door open and a new opportunity, I always looked into it and took a chance and walked through the door.

Simple questions can be profound, and answering them requires us to make stark and honest - and sometimes painful - self-assessments.

Leadership flows from inner character and integrity of ambition, which inspires others to lend themselves to your organization's mission.

Donors do not reward good intentions.

When you see a roadblock or challenge as an opportunity, it is amazing how you are already halfway there.

A single person doesn't change an organization, but culture and good people do.

Practice self-awareness, self-evaluation, and self-improvement. If we are aware that our manners - language, behavior, and actions - are measured against our values and principles, we are able to more easily embody the philosophy, leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.