Quotes on Leadership

In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.

Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.

The measure of a man is what he does with power.

We know that leadership is very much related to change. As the pace of change accelerates, there is naturally a greater need for effective leadership.

They stood there, King of the Hill, Top of the Heap, Ruler of All They Surveyed, Unimpeachable Monarchs and Presidents, trying to understand what it meant to own a world and how big a world really was.

If you can raise up leaders, you will always have followers, but if you can't raise up leaders, you will only have followers.

To put up with. . . distortions and to stick to one's guns come what may - this is the. . . gift of leadership.

There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hope soon to be swept away.

It's not to give people fish It's not to teach them how to fish It's to build a new and better fishing industry

All streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. Humility gives it its power. If you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them. If you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them. The Master is above the people, and no one feels oppressed. She goes ahead of the people, and no one feels manipulated. The whole world is grateful to her. Because she competes with no one, no one can compete with her.

Governing a large country is like frying a small fish. You spoil it with too much poking. Center your country in the Tao and evil will have no power. Not that it isn't there, but you'll be able to step out of its way. Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself.

Without a terrific leader, you're not going to have a Great Group. But it is also true that you're not going to have a great leader without a Great Group.

I've never found an important decision made by a great organization that was made at a point of unanimity. Significant decisions carry risks and inevitably some will oppose it. In these settings, the great legislative leader must be artful in handling uncomfortable decisions, and this requires rigor.

My leadership began to take flight when I allowed myself to press people to change-whether they thanked me or cursed me.

Consensus is the negation of leadership.

A highly credible leader under-promises and over-delivers.

Over time, is it easier or harder to sustain your influence within your organization? With charisma alone, influence becomes increasingly more difficult to sustain. With character, as time passes, influence builds and requires less work to sustain.

If you have no character to lose, people will have no faith in you.

Character creates consistency, and if your people know what they can expect from you, they will continue to look to you for leadership.

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

People may teach what they know, but they reproduce what they are.