No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.
Interpretation
True leadership involves collaboration and sharing credit rather than seeking personal glory.
Andrew Carnegie emphasizes that effective leadership is not about individual accomplishment or recognition, but rather about empowering others and working as a team. A leader must be willing to share responsibilities and the success that comes with it, understanding that collaboration leads to greater achievements than solitary efforts can provide.
In practice
In a motivational speech about teamwork, I would use this quote to illustrate the importance of collaboration.
Give me the life of the boy whose mother is nurse, seamstress, washerwoman, cook, teacher, angel, and saint, all in one, and whose father is guide, exemplar, and friend. No servants to come between. These are the boys who are born to the best fortune.
To kill a man will be considered as disgusting [in the twentieth century] as we in this day consider it disgusting to eat one.
It is not the rich man's son that the young struggler for advancement has to fear in the race for life, nor his nephew, nor his cousin. Let him look out for the dark horse in the boy who begins by sweeping out the office.
You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big, love big and live big.
Speculation is a parasite feeding upon values, creating none.
Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead that wins the race.
The man, most man, works best for men: and, if most man indeed, he gets his manhood plainest from his soul.
Whenever I counsel someone who feels called to be an evangelist, I always urge them to guard their time and not feel like they have to do everything.
The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You're trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren't very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product.
The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the singlehanded defiance of the world.
Anyone who loves his opinions more than his teammates will advance his opinions but set back his team.
The government I led gave ordinary people peace, security, dignity, and opportunity to progress.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.