Leadership Quotes

Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy, and make the most of where you are

The slaves in Rome were incapable of leisure and so their masters gave them entertainment to keep them pacified.

Those who are not true leaders will just affirm people at their own immature level.

Wise leaders understand that the single greatest determinant of whether followers will ever own a vision deeply is the extent to which whose followers believe the leader will own it.

Your energy is a valuable resource, distribute it wisely.

Freedom keeps us soaring, but quarreling destroys our ability to fly.

More important than starting well in our walk with God is to finish well.

Winners see the dream and develop plans while the rest see the obstacles and develop justifications.

No obstacle is so big that one person with determination can't make a difference.

Dictators are rulers who always look good until the last ten minutes.

The leaven of true leadership cannot lift others unless we are with and serve those to be led.

I would love to play Nefertiti or Cleopatra or the Queen of Sheba. We preserve more male history than we do female. We have to preserve [female history]. No more complaining. We have to do it.

We're at the end of an era of failed leadership. We have been led by a divider [Barack Obama] who has sliced and diced the electorate, pitting American against American for political purposes.

Winners bring reality up to their vision. Losers bring their vision down to reality.

It is wonderful what great strides can be made when there is a resolute purpose behind them.

My responsibility, our responsibility as lucky Americans, is to try to give back to this country as much as it has given us, as we continue our American journey together.

To 'turn around' is to end up facing the same way. Maybe that is the problem, all the turning organizations around.

Knowing what is right is not the same as doing what is right.

It is the job of leaders to eliminate uncertainty.

Communicate your passion clearly, concisely and with genuine conviction.

The Court's great power is its ability to educate, to provide moral leadership.

We have no patent on anything we do and anything we do can be copied by anyone else. But you can't copy the heart and the soul and the conscience of the company.

Live to learn and you will really learn to live.

Men are of no importance. What counts is who commands.

The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.

Charisma is the result of effective leadership, not the other way around.

Democracy, thus French revolution, was not invented by philosophic theory nor by the bourgeois leadership. It was discovered by the masses in their method of action.

Vision with action can change the world.

It isn't polls or public opinion at the moment that counts. It is right and wrong and leadership--men with fortitude, honesty, and a belief in the right that makes epochs in the history of the world.

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.

A highly credible leader under-promises and over-delivers.

The building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.

I have more influence now than when I had the power.

Leadership is more likely to be assumed by the aggressive than by the able, and those who scramble to the top are more often motivated by their own inner torments.

That very aggressive, unapologetic leadership style is needed in Washington, D.C., and I'm not afraid to tackle big issues.

You have to look at leadership through the eyes of the followers and you have to live the message.

Being good is good business

Most People have a desire to look for the exception instead of the desire to become exceptional.

I believe in businesses where you engage in creative thinking, and where you form some of your deepest relationships. If it isn't about the production of the human spirit, we are in big trouble.

A cowardly leader is the most dangerous of men.

Behind a leader there must be followers, but they should always be on the lookout for the main chance and ready to change sides if the current leader doesn't deliver.

I think leadership is more than being able to cross the t's and dot the i's. It's about character and integrity and work ethic.

I decide on the basis of conscience. A genuine leader doesn't reflect consensus, he molds consensus.

Substance and content over style and hype any day.

Genuine leadership comes from the quality of your vision and your ability to spark others to extraordinary performance.

Management is all about managing in the short term, while developing the plans for the long term.

I just love the game of basketball so much. The game! I don't need the 18,000 people screaming and all the peripheral things. To me, the most enjoyable part is the practice and preparation.

If you don't try, if you don't do something for yourself, you won't get anywhere.

I believe that the capacity that any organization needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed.

Knowing that we can make a difference in this world is a great motivator. How can we know this and not be involved?