Leadership Quotes

He that cannot obey, cannot command. Benjamin Franklin

To manage or to coach? People will manage the work. By attempting to manage people you are limiting their potential. A manager is a title, it does not guarantee success. Coaching is an action, not a title and actions will result in successes! Catherine Pulsifer

The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own. Benjamin Disraeli

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. Jim Rohn

Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders. Tom Peters

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives. Theodore Roosevelt

One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. Arnold H. Glasgow

A good leader can't get too far ahead of his followers. Theodore Roosevelt

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. Jim Rohn

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt

Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. Vince Lombardi

Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish. Sam Walton

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it. Andrew Carnegie

Leadership is not magnetic personality — that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people" — that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. Peter F. Drucker

It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself. Eleanor Roosevelt

Too many leaders act as if the sheep... their people... are there for the benefit of the shepherd, not that the shepherd has responsibility for the sheep. Kenneth Blanchard

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. Kenneth Blanchard

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. Peter F. Drucker

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. Dwight Eisenhower

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. Nelson Mandela

There is an enormous number of managers who have retired on the job. Peter F. Drucker

Wise are those who learn that the bottom line doesn't always have to be their top priority. William Arthur Ward

In the past a leader was a boss. Today's leaders must be partners with their people... they no longer can lead solely based on positional power. Kenneth Blanchard

Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. Vince Lombardi

I always remember the axiom: a leader...is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. Nelson Mandela

You do not lead by hitting people over the head — that's assault, not leadership. Dwight Eisenhower

A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit. Arnold H. Glasgow

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I". And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I". They don't think "I". They think "we"; they think "team". They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. Peter F. Drucker

Leaders Get There