I really like quotes. This past week, I’ve been reading about leadership. Here are a few that caught my eye. I hope you like them too …
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” – Lao Tzu
“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves” – unknown
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them” – JFK
“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.” – JFK
“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” – Harvey S. Firestone
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln
“The greatness of a leader is measured by the achievements of the led. This is the ultimate test of his effectiveness.” – Gen. Omar Bradley
“Do you wish men to speak well of you? Then never speak well of yourself” – Blaise Pascal
“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever” – Chinese proverb
“Wars are not won by fighting battles; wars are won by choosing battles” – George S. Patton
“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare” – Japanese proverb
“The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism” – Norman Vincent Peale
“I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nader
“If you are not failing now and again, its a sign you’re playing it safe” – Woody Allen
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” – Albert Einstein
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do.” – Andrew Carnegie
“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches but to reveal to them their own” – Benjamin Disraeli
“The best way to predict the future is to create it” – Peter Drucker
“A man should never neglect his family for business.” – Walt Disney
“It’s never crowded along the extra mile” – Wayne Dyer
“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.” – Colin Powell
“My father always used to say that when you die, if you’ve got five real friends, then you’ve had a great life.” – Lee Iacocca
“We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” – Lee Iacocca
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot… and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
“The first step to leadership is servanthood.” – John Maxwell
“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” – Vince Lombardi
“The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way.” – Henry Miller
A friend of mine characterizes leaders simply like this: “Leaders don’t inflict pain. They bear pain.” – Max DePree
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.” – Andrew Carnegie
“Probably my best quality as a coach is that I ask a lot of challenging questions and let the person come up with the answer.” – Phil Dixon
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” -Thomas Jefferson
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” -Robert F. Kennedy
“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.” -Rosalyn Carter
“…there is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” – Ronald Reagan
“…I know it’s hard when you’re up to your armpits in alligators to remember you came here to drain the swamp.” – Ronald Reagan
“Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them. They make the impossible happen.” – Robert Jarvik
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – William Arthur Ward
