These remarkable leadership quotes illustrate that leadership, by its nature, is full of paradoxes and ambiguities. These are quotes that are meant to be memorable—in our view, quality is better than quantity.
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“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.”— Kenneth Blanchard
The List of Remarkable and Memorable Quotes
Leadership Quotes 1 to 5
“If you fail to honor your people, They will fail to honor you; It is said of a good leader that When the work is done, the aim fulfilled, The people will say, “We did this ourselves.” — Lao Tzu, 604-531 B. C., Founder of Taoism, Tao Te Ching
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” — Kenneth Blanchard, University of Massachusetts, Schatz, Managing By Influence, (Prentice-Hall, 1986)
“Contrary to the opinion of many people, leaders are not born. Leaders are made, and they are made by effort and hard work.” — Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970, Professional football coach
“A tale is told of a man in Paris during the upheaval in 1948, who saw a friend marching after a crowd toward the barricades. Warning him that these could not be held against the troops, that he had better keep way, he received this reply, ” I must follow them. I am their leader.” — A Lawrence Lowell, 1856-1943, President of Harvard University, Conflicts of Principle
“Lead, follow or get out of the way!” — American Saying
Leadership Quote 6 to 10
“To lead, one must follow.” — Lao Tzu, 604-531 B. C., Founder of Taoism, Tao Te Ching
“A leader has to appear consistent. That doesn’t mean he has to be consistent.” — James Callahan, English Prime Minister, Harvard Business Review, November/December 1986
“The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them as leaders and continually develops them.” — John C Maxwell: The 17th Irrefutable Laws of Teamwork (2001, 185)
“The view only changes for the lead dog.” — Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Radio Program, the 1950s
“Leadership, like swimming, cannot be learned by reading about it.” — Henry Mintzberg, McGill University School of Management, The Nature of Managerial Work, Harper & Row, 1973
Leadership Quote 11 to 15
“Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.” — Lao Tze
“A leader is a man who makes decisions. Sometimes they turn out right and sometimes then turn out wrong; but either way, he makes them.” — Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co., Leaders are Made . . . Not Born, Leadership in the Office (AMACOM, 1963)
“The productivity and competitive problems American manufactures face result from ineffective top management, petrified in place, unwilling to accept change, failing to provide vision and leadership.” — Phillip Alspach, President, Intercom, Inc., Harvard Business Review, November/December 1986
“My father had a simple test that helps me measure my own leadership quotient: When you are out of the office he once asked me, does your staff carry on remarkable well without you?” — Martha Peak, Group Editor, AMA Magazines, Management Review, October 1992
“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow a weak trumpet.” — Theodore Hesburgh, President, Notre Dame University, Time, May 1987
Leadership Quotes 16 to 20
“There is no such thing as a perfect leader either in the past or present, in China or elsewhere. If there is one, he is only pretending, like a pig inserting scallions into its nose to look like an elephant.” — Liu Shao-chi
“All organizations do change when put under sufficient pressure. This pressure must be either external to the organization or the result of very strong leadership.” — Bruce Henderson, CEO, Boston Consulting Group, Inc, Henderson on Corporate Strategy (Abit, 1979)
“Leadership has been defined as the ability to hide your panic from others.” — Anonymous
“The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” — Theodore Roosevelt, American President
“Rough waters are truer tests of leadership. In calm water, every ship has a good captain.” — Swedish proverb
Leadership Quotes 21 to 25
“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” — Publilius Syrus.
“A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” — Max Lucado
“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.” — John Kenneth Galbraith
“Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.” — John Naisbitt
“Leadership requires the courage to make decisions that will benefit the next generation.” — Alan Autry
Leadership Quotes 26 to 30
” A good leader can’t get too far ahead of his followers.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
” A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn’t like the tune.” — Anonymous
“A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.” — Unknown
“A leader sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.” — Leroy Eime
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” — Steve Jobs
Leadership Quotes 31 to 34
“Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but traits of character.” — Lewis H. Lapham
“A good leader inspires confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people’s confidence in themselves” — Unkown
“The goal of many leaders is to get people to think more highly of the leader. The goal of a great leader is to help people to think more highly of themselves.” — J. Carla Northcutt
“A person who is worthy of being a leader wants power, not for himself, but to be of service.” — Sam J. Ervin, Jr. (U.S. Senator, 1954 to 1974)
“The true leader is always led” — Carl Gustav Jung (Swiss Psychologist, Founder of the Analytic Psychology)
“There go the people. I must follow them for I am their leader.” — Alexandre Ledru-Rollin
Leadership Quotes: 36 to 40
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” — Theodore M. Hesburgh, former President, Notre Dame University
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” — John F. Kennedy
“Leadership in today’s world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.” — Hubert H. Humphrey
“You can only lead others where you yourself are willing to go.” — Lachlan McLean
“The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” — Faye Wattelton
Leadership Quotes: 41 to 45
“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to.” —Rosalynn Carter
“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” —Arnold Glasgow
The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.” —John C. Maxwell
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” – Steve Jobs
“Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” — John C. Maxwell
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