Quotes on Leadership

Leadership is developed daily, not in a day.

People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves.

Believing in people before they have proved themselves is the key to motivating people to reach their potential.

Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. How do you gain influence from people? You invest in them. How do you invest in them? It starts with giving them time.

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

We blacks look for leadership in men and women of such youth and inexperience, as well as poverty of education and character, that it is no wonder that we sometimes seem rudderless.... We see basketball players and pop singers as possible role models, when nothing could be further, in most cases, from their capacities.

Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs.

A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.

Spiritual leadership should remain spiritual leadership and the temporal power should not become too important in any church.

There is only one way under high heaven to get anybody to do anything. Did you ever stop to think of that? Yes, just one way. And that is by making the other person want to do it.

People who add value to others do so intentionally. I say that because to add value, leaders must give of themselves, and that rarely occurs by accident.

The dreams and passions stored within hearts are powerful keys which can unlock a wealth of potential.

Self-centered leaders manipulate when they move people for personal benefit. Mature leaders motivate by moving people for mutual benefit.

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. It may mean giving up familiar but limiting patterns, safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in, and relationships that have lost their meaning.

Look at our society. Everyone wants to be thin, but nobody wants to diet. Everyone wants to live long, but few will exercise. Everybody wants money, yet seldom will anyone budget or control their spending.

I do think this next century, hopefully, will be about a more global view. Where you don't just think, 'Yes, my country is doing well,' but you think about the world at large.

I think it is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises, but only performance is reality

A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.