The ultimate test of practical leadership is the realization of intended, real change that meets people's enduring needs.
James Macgregor BurnsRead
To elevate the goals of humankind, to achieve high moral purpose, to realize major intended change, leaders must thrust themselves into the most intractable processes and structures of history and ultimately master them.
Interpretation
Leaders must engage with difficult processes of history to achieve meaningful change.
This quote emphasizes the responsibility of leaders to actively participate in challenging and complex situations in order to promote significant moral and societal progress. It suggests that to elevate the goals of humanity and foster major changes, leaders need to immerse themselves in historical contexts and confront difficult structures and processes head-on, ultimately mastering them to create a better future.
In practice
In a corporate meeting discussing future visions, this quote can inspire executives to tackle tough challenges.
The ultimate test of practical leadership is the realization of intended, real change that meets people's enduring needs.
Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.
Leaders are not pale reflectors of major social conflicts; they play up some, play down others, ignore still others.
Woodrow Wilson called for leaders who, by boldly interpreting the nation's conscience, could lift a people out of their everyday selves. That people can be lifted into their better selves is the secret of transforming leadership.
Your most precious possession is not your financial assets. Your most precious possession is the people you have working there, and what they carry around in their heads, and their ability to work together.
I have the responsibility of over four million people, and I am in a position to do good, to be able to bring about a new life for my people, and I will continue to move in that direction. It's a burden, but it needs to be done, and you have to have the courage and wisdom to see it through.
I tell my staff, 'Give me your best, and then go home and live your life.' I've never asked anyone to work harder, but I've told plenty that they needed rest.
Politicians have to be committed to people in equal measures.
What should be the aim of management? What is their job? Quality is the responsibility of the top people. Its origin is in the boardroom. They are the ones who decide.
One is too small a number to achieve greatness. No accomplishment of real value has ever been achieved by a human being working alone.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.