leaders Quotes

“And when a leader embraces their responsibility to care for people instead of caring for numbers, then people will follow, solve problems and see to it that that leader’s vision comes to life the right way, a stable way and not the expedient way.”

“Leadership takes work. It takes time and energy. The effects are not always easily measured and they are not always immediate. Leadership is always a commitment to human beings.”

“Let us all be the leaders we wish we had.”

“The rank of office is not what makes someone a leader. Leadership is the choice to serve others with or without any formal rank.”

“It is not the genius at the top giving directions that makes people great. It is great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius.”

“Good leadership is like exercise. We do not see any improvement to our bodies with day-to-day comparisons. In fact, if we only compare the way our bodies look on a given day to how they looked the previous day, we would think our efforts had been wasted. It’s only when we compare pictures of ourselves over a period of weeks or months that we can see a stark difference. The impact of leadership is best judged over time.”

“I know of no case study in history that describes an organization that has been managed out of a crisis. Every single one of them was led.”

“Great leaders truly care about those they are privileged to lead and understand that the true cost of the leadership privilege comes at the expense of self-interest.”

“All the perks, all the benefits and advantages you may get for the rank or position you hold, they aren’t meant for you. They are meant for the role you fill. And when you leave your role, which eventually you will, they will give the ceramic cup to the person who replaces you. Because you only ever deserved a Styrofoam cup.”

“Leaps of greatness require the combined problem-solving ability of people who trust each other.”

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

“Leadership is not a license to do less; it is a responsibility to do more.”

“The persistent refusal of the Adamses to sacrifice the integrity of their own intellectual and moral standards and values for the sake of winning public office or popular favor is another of the measuring rods by which we may measure the divergence of American life from its starting point.”

“The warrior is always first a servant… The warrior does not serve because they cannot lead; they know that a person cannot lead if they do not serve.”

“Find, develop, and support good people, and they in turn will find, develop, and own good ideas.”

“Societal conditioning discourages telling the truth to those perceived to be in higher positions.”

“We found that for leaders to make something great, their ambition has to be for the greatness of the work and the company, rather than for themselves.”

“The first is that the bailiff is dismissed for thieving, and that I have formed a resolution to have no bailiff at all, but to manage everything with my own head and hands.”

“Most of us, in ways that we are not entirely aware of, automatically associate leadership ability with imposing physical stature. We have a sense of what a leader is supposed to look like, and that stereotype is so powerful that when someone fits it, we simply become blind to other considerations.”

″... Tanto came across base chief Bob sitting on the floor in a main hallway, his back against the wall, his head in his hands. Tanto thought Bob looked as though he’d given up... his body language sent a message of defeat.”

“We create a leader by locating one in the crowd who is standing up. This may well be because there are no chairs or because his knees are fused by arthritis. It doesn’t matter. We designate this victim as a ‘stand-up guy’ by the simple expedient of sitting down around him.”

″ In this world of ours none of us can afford to be lookers-on, the critics standing on the sidelines.”

“the most fundamental and important truths at the heart of Extreme Ownership: there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.”

“A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or reward that quality in its chosen leaders today.”

“Extreme Ownership. Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.”

“Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve, and they must build that mind-set into the team. They must face the facts through a realistic, brutally honest assessment of themselves and their team’s performance.”

“Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done and win.”

“The slopes to treachery from the dizzy heights of revolutionary leadership are always so steep and slippery that leaders, however well intentioned, can never build their fences too high”

“Leaders must accept total responsibility, own problems that inhibit performance, and develop solutions to those problems.”

“As leaders, we must not get dragged into the details but instead remain focused on the bigger picture.”

“In order to convince and inspire others to follow and accomplish a mission, a leader must be a true believer in the mission.”

“Good followers do not become good leaders.”

“The instability, injustice, and confusion introduced into the public councils, have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have everywhere perished; as they continue to be the favorite and fruitful topics from which the adversaries to liberty derive their most specious declamations.”

“It is not possible to rule well without having been ruled.”

“Lord, give us leaders who will break covenants with death in our country.”

“God, give water in the wilderness, and release streams in the desert. I sprinkle America with the blood of Jesus and pray that the leaders of the nation will be under that covering.”

“Let every president, magistrate, Senate member, member of Congress, council member, and all other governmental representatives be subject to that authority. Jesus is Lord over America!”

“Your Word says that when godly men reign, the people will rejoice. It also says that the people cry out under the rule of the ungodly.”

“Lord, anoint leaders to submit to Your lordship so that our economic situation can be healed. Let our people build houses and inhabit them.”

“Most armies are in fact run by their sergeants—the officers are there just to give things a bit of tone and prevent warfare from becoming a mere lower-class brawl.”

“A beautiful spotted stallion was prancing to and fro in front of her, stamping his hooves and shaking his mane. He was strong and proud and more handsome than any horse she had ever dreamed of. He told her that he was the leader of the all the wild horses who roamed the hills.”

“Daring leaders work to make sure people can be themselves and feel a sense of belonging.”

“I define a leader as anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.”

“The greatest contribution of a leader is to make other leaders.”

“One of them yell out, ‘Don’t let them punk you, Li’l Don and Li’l Zeke! It don’t matter that my pops been locked up for nine years or that King’s pops been dead almost as long. They still Big Don, the former crown, and Big Zeke, his right-had man. That make me Li’l Don and King Li’l Zeke. Guess we not old enough to go by our own names yet.”

“The first job of a leader—at work or at home—is to inspire trust. It’s to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.”

“For we are leaders of inclusiveness and community, of love, equity, and justice.”

“Megan Tuw has always been popular. As a leader of her high school’s most cliquish group, she’s among the anointed girls who think nothing of ridiculing those who don’t fit in. ”

“A core attribute of the effective leader is the act of inspiring and developing others. Leaders model by their actions.”

“Infinite-minded leaders don’t ask their people to fixate on finite goals; they ask their people to help them figure out a way to advance toward a more infinite vision of the future that benefits everyone.”

″‘I’m Head of Dorm for next term.’ Kingshaw went cold. He knew that it was sure to be true, and that it would be the worst of all things that were coming. Hooper had power now, here. He would have power there, too, then.”

“A leader figures out where to go and what to do after that’s done.”

″‘You can carry the provisions,’ he said, ‘because you haven’t got anything else to do, have you? I’m too busy to think about things like that when I’m the Path Pioneer.‘”

“So they stumbled along drenched with the waves, and clustered round Elzevir, for they looked on him as a leader, because he knew the ways of the sea and was the only one left calm in this dreadful strait.”