Leadership Quotes - Page 27

The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.

Girls playing sports is not about winning gold medals. It's about self-esteem, learning to compete and learning how hard you have to work in order to achieve your goals.

A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

Success comes from a constant focus on renewal.

Leading women, if they are to offer variations from the present companies of leading men, need to be drawn from a wide spectrum of household and family arrangements. If women with children and family responsibilities are almost always seriously limited by these, then those currently in power will not have the personal experience necessary to represent these overlooked areas.

If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway. But men do not need to be actually gathered together in a public meeting or in a street riot, to be subject to the influences of mass psychology. Because man is by nature gregarious he feels himself to be member of a herd, even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn.

Character in many ways is everything in leadership. It is made up of many things, but I would say character is really integrity. When you delegate something to a subordinate, for example, it is absolutely your responsibility, and he must understand this. You as a leader must take complete responsibility for what the subordinate does. I once said, as a sort of wisecrack, that leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.

And the whole world, the whole world that believes in freedom, whether you're talking about personal freedom, economic freedom, religious freedom, they look to the United States for leadership; and you're part of that leadership.

The very exercise of leadership fosters capacity for it.

Certainly a leader needs a clear vision of the organization and where it is going, but a vision is of little value unless it is shared in a way so as to generate enthusiasm and commitment. Leadership and communication are inseparable.

A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless.

Leadership is found in the action to defeat that which would defeat you… You are made by the struggles you choose.

Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.

Most people return small favors, acknowledge medium ones and repay greater ones - with ingratitude.

If you see a snake, just kill it - don't appoint a committee on snakes.

If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can't accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.

The only test of leadership is that somebody follows.

Show me a poorly uniformed troop and I'll show you a poorly uniformed leader.

When the pursuit of natural harmony is a shared journey, great heights can be attained.

Courage! Do not fall back.

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

Leadership happens at every level of the organization and no one can shirk from this responsibility.

Empowerment is what managers do to people. Engagement is what managers do with people.

It’s sad. Marxism didn’t work. Communism didn’t work. Capitalism doesn’t work. Nothing works. Even democracy doesn’t work. Democracy-the greatest form of government and we have two choices for who’s our leader. In fascism you only have one choice. That’s great. We have one more choice than the worst form of government.

The beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the process.