Leadership Quotes

"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

"So often, you hear leaders state they are coaches. But, when you look at where their priorities are, it is not with their people; it is usually with the outside customer."
Byron & Catherine Pulsifer, from As a Coach, Who is Your Customer?

"The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the point that they eventually surpass him or her in knowledge and ability."
Fred A. Manske, Jr.

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

"No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him."
W. A. Nance

"You cannot manage men into battle.You manage things; you lead people."
Grace Murray Hopper

"A job description of a coach would be: to lead, motivate, create a vision, and teach staff the skills needed to empower them to help make us a successful and profitable company."
Byron & Catherine Pulsifer, from Why All This Talk of Coaching Rather Than Managing?

"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

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you."
Max DePree

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

"Leadership is understanding people and involving them to help you do a job. That takes all of the good characteristics, like integrity, dedication of purpose, selflessness, knowledge, skill, implacability, as well as determination not to accept failure."
Admiral Arleigh A. Burke

"Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate."
William Arthur Ward

"The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack."
Wayne Lukas

"The very essence of leadership is its purpose. And the purpose of leadership is to accomplish a task. That is what leadership does - and what it does is more important than what it is or how it works."
Colonel Dandridge M. Malone

"The man who follows a crowd will never be followed by a crowd."
R. S. Donnell

"The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born - that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born."
Warren G. Bennis

"The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves."
Ray Kroc

"A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it."
Ken Adelman

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

"Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions."
Harold S. Geneen

"Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together."
Jesse Jackson

"Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand."
General Colin Powell

"Lead and inspire people. Don't try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead."
Ross Perot

"Communication is the real work of leadership."
Nitin Nohria

"Think of managing change as an adventure. It tests your skills and abilities. It brings forth talent that may have been dormant. Change is also a training ground for leadership. When we think of leaders, we remember times of change, innovation and conflict. Leadership is often about shaping a new way of life. To do that, you must advance change, take risks and accept responsibility for making change happen."
Charles E. Rice

"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

"A leader is a dealer in hope."
Napoleon Bonaparte

"A boss creates fear, a leader confidence.
A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes.
A boss knows all, a leader asks questions.
A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting.
A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group."
Russell H. Ewing

"An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success."
Stephen R. Covey

"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."
Theodore M. Hesburgh

"I have also worked with leaders who have a positive outlook, and the morale is so different. Even when faced with challenges, the people looked for solutions. The leader gave us hope and encouragement."
Byron & Catherine Pulsifer, from More Common Traits of a Coach

"Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked;
leadership is defined by results not attributes."
Peter Drucker

"A man who wants to lead the orchestra
must turn his back on the crowd."
James Crook

"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 be."
Rosalynn Carter

"To lead people, walk beside them ...
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
'We did it ourselves!'"
Lao-tsu

"The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist. They turn to each other and say 'We did it ourselves'."
Zen Saying

More quotes on our Leadership, Management page