quotations about leadership
Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.
COLIN POWELL
The Powell Principles
Man, like all other animals of a gregarious nature, is more inclined to follow than to lead. There are few who are endued with that impetus of soul which prompts them to stand foremost as leaders in the storming of the breach, whether it be of a fortress of stone, or the more dangerous one of public opinion, when failure in the one case may precipitate them on the sword, and in the other consign them to the scaffold.
FREDERICK MARRYAT
King's Own
Most of the ladies and gentlemen who mourn the passing of the nation's leaders wouldn't know a leader if they saw one. If they had the bad luck to come across a leader, they would find out that he might demand something from them, and this impertinence would put an abrupt and indignant end to their wish for his return.
LEWIS H. LAPHAM
"Leadership", Money and Class in America
A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice.
JAMES CALLAGHAN
The Harvard Business Review, Nov. 1, 1986
Leadership is the catalytic gift that energizes, directs, and empowers all the other gifts.
BILL HYBELS
Courageous Leadership
Leadership is evoking in others the capacity to dream.
JOHN C. MAXWELL
Leadership Gold
There is a troublesome humor some men have, that if they may not lead, they will not follow; but had rather a thing were never done, than not done their own way, tho' other ways very desirable.
WILLIAM PENN
Some Fruits of Solitude
The real leader has no need to lead -- he is content to point the way.
HENRY MILLER
The Wisdom of the Heart
Life is the leader's laboratory, and exemplary leaders use it to conduct as many experiments as possible. Try, fail, learn. Try, fail, learn. Try, fail, learn. That's the leader's mantra. Leaders are learners. They learn from their failures as well as their successes, and they make it possible for others to do the same.
JAMES M. KOUZES & BARRY Z. POSNER
The Leadership Challenge
There are many leaders, not just one. Leadership is distributed. It resides not solely in the individual at the top, but in every person at every level who, in one way or another, acts as a leader to a group of followers -- wherever in the organization that person is, whether shop steward, team head, or CEO.
DANIEL GOLEMAN, RICHARD BOYATZIS & ANNIE MCKEE
Primal Leadership
Leadership is the outward expression of our inner character.
DICK ABEL
The DNA of Leadership
Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen.
ALAN KEITH
attributed, The Leadership Challenge
People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.
JOHN C. MAXWELL
Developing the Leader Within You
If the experience of leadership is like being at the edge of an unfamiliar chasm, the act of leadership is building a bridge across that chasm.
KEVIN CASHMAN
Leadership from the Inside Out
Leadership is about creating the future, not predicting it.
MARSHALL SASHKIN & MOLLY G. SASHKIN
Leadership that Matters
A leader, you see, is one of the things that distinguishes a mob from a people.
FRANK HERBERT
Dune
Leadership is taken, not given.
LOUISE STERLING & SUE DAVIDOFF
The Courage to Lead
The multitude who require to be led, still hate their leaders.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
Characteristics
A good leader makes a good follower.
BION
attributed, Day's Collacon
You don't become an effective leader by default.
JOHN C. MAXWELL
Leadership Gold