An aphorism is nothing else but the slightest
QUOTES AND APHORISMS ON LEADERS 1
The chief executive who knows his strengths and weaknesses as a leader is likely to be far more effective than the one who remains blind to them. He also is on the road to humility -- that priceless attitude of openness to life that can help a manager absorb mistakes, failures, or personal shortcomings.
John Adair (British writer, teacher and adviser on leadership, Adair Leadership Foundation)
A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.
Ken Adelman (American journalist, former U.N. Ambassador)
Every ruler is harsh whose laws is new.
Aeschylus (525-456 BC, Greek dramatist)
Skill in the art of communication is crucial to a leader's success. He can accomplish nothing unless he can communicate effectively.
Norman Allen (American writer, recipient of a Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play)
Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.
Marian Anderson (1902-1993, American contralto concert and opera singer)
The minute a person whose word means a great deal to others dare to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow.
Marian Anderson (1902-1993, American contralto concert and opera singer)
The deep rewards of giving go to those who give out of a concern for others, and take pains to see that their giving is wisely done, to meet real needs and seize promising opportunities.
Emerson F. Andrews
If you have fear of those that command you, spare those that obey you.
Rabbi Ben Azai (Israeli rabbi)
If there is any one axiom that I have tried to live up to in attempting to become successful in business, it is the fact that I have tried to surround myself with associates that know more about business than I do. This policy has always been very successful and is still working for me.
Monte L. Bean
A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn't go by yourself.
Joel A. Barker (American businessman, consultant, author)
No man can persuade people to do what he wants them to do unless he genuinely likes people and believes that what he wants them to do is to their own advantage.
Bruce Barton (1886-1967, American author, advertising expert)
The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.
Joe Batten
Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.
Warren G. Bennis (1925-, American psychologist, management educator, and consultant)
Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it.
Warren G. Bennis (1925-, American psychologist, management educator, and consultant)
Managers are people who do things right; leaders are people who do the right thing.
Warren G. Bennis (1925-, American psychologist, management educator, and consultant)
The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
Warren G. Bennis (1925-, American psychologist, management educator, and consultant)
Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you're ready to play as tough as you're able to, you'd better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you're not giving it all you've got. Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players.
Larry Bird (1956-, American basketball player, coach)
A leader is a dealer in hope.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821, French general, emperor)
An order that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821, French general, emperor)
Every private in the French army carries a Field Marshall wand in his knapsack.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821, French general, emperor)
Men are lead by trifles.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821, French general, emperor)
When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821, French general, emperor)
Six traits of effective leaders: 1. Make others feel important 2. Promote a vision 3. Follow the golden rule 4. Admit mistakes 5. Criticize others only in private 6. Stay close to the action Example has more followers than reason. We unconsciously imitate what pleases us, and approximate to the characters we most admire.
John Christian Bovee (1820-1904, American author, lawyer)
There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956, German dramatist, poet)
In effect, to follow, not to force the public inclination; to give a direction, a form, a technical dress, and a specific sanction, to the general sense of the community, is the true end of legislature.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797, British political writer, statesman)
When we think we lead we are most led.
Lord Byron (1788-1824, British poet)
The successful man doesn't use others, other people use the successful man, for above all the success is of service.
Mark Caine
Tell a person they are brave and you help them become so.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881, Scottish philosopher, author)
'Tis a dainty thing to command, though 'twere but a flock of sheep.
Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616, Spanish novelist, dramatist, poet)
I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion's roar.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965, British statesman, Prime Minister)
The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965, British statesman, Prime Minister)
Do not let a leader lead you on a bad path.
Confucius (BC 551-479, Chinese ethical teacher, philosopher)
If you lead the people with correctness, who will dare not be correct?
Confucius (BC 551-479, Chinese ethical teacher, philosopher)
You can successfully force people to follow a certain course, but you cannot force them to understand it.
Confucius (BC 551-479, Chinese ethical teacher, philosopher)
You can successfully force people to follow a certain course, but you cannot force them to understand it.
Confucius (BC 551-479, Chinese ethical teacher, philosopher)
A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.
James Crook
Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
Denis Diderot (1713-1784, French philosopher)
Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.
Diogenes of Sinope (c.410-320 BC, Cynic philosopher)
I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881, British statesman, Prime Minister)
No affection and a great brain, these are the people to command the world.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881, British statesman, Prime Minister)
The man who follows a crowd will never be followed by a crowd.
R. S. Donnell
Leadership is not magnetic personality -- that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not making friends and influencing people -- that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
Peter F. Drucker (1909-, American-Austrian management consultant)
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter F. Drucker (1909-, American-Austrian management consultant)
Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.
Peter F. Drucker (1909-, American-Austrian management consultant)
Each person must decide for himself what he wants each day. As a leader, I will expose you to the options and the likely consequences of those options. I'll even share my opinion if asked, but I'll never confuse it with the opinion, which simply doesn't exist.
Wayne Dyer (1940-, American psychotherapist, author, lecturer) Author's website: www.waynedyer.com
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969, American President (34th))
Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969, American President (34th))
You do not lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969, American President (34th))
Recognition is the greatest motivator.
Gerard C. Ekedal
To be a leader of men one must turn one's back on men.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939, British psychologist)
In every society some men are born to rule, and some to advise.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
He is the purest figure in history. [About George Washington]
William E. Gladstone (1809-1888, British liberal Prime Minister, statesman)
The first thing a great person does, is make us realize the insignificance of circumstance.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
We are reformers in the spring and summer, but in autumn we stand by the old. Reformers in the morning, and conservers at night.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
In really good companies, you have to lead. You have to come up with big ideas and express them forcefully. I have always been encouraged -- or sometimes forced -- to confront the very natural fear of being wrong. I was constantly pushed to find out what I really thought and then to speak up. Over time, I came to see that waiting to discover which way the wind was blowing is an excellent way to learn how to be a follower.
Roger Enrico
A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.
Sam Ervin
There is no necessary connection between the desire to lead and the ability to lead, and even less the ability to lead somewhere that will be to the advantage of the led….
Bergen Evans (1904-1978, American author)
A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group.
Russell H. Ewing
Right or wrong, the customer is always right.
Marshall Field (1834-1906, American merchant)
Leadership is the special quality which enables people to stand up and pull the rest of us over the horizon.
James L. Fishier
People try so hard to believe in leaders now, pitifully hard. But we no sooner get a popular reformer or politician or soldier or writer or philosopher -- a Roosevelt, a Tolstoy, a Wood, a Shaw, a Nietzsche, than the cross-currents of criticism wash him away. My Lord, no man can stand prominence these days. It's the surest path to obscurity. People get sick of hearing the same name over and over.
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940, American writer) Author's website: www.fitzgeraldsociety.org
Who has not served cannot command.
John Florio (c.1553-1625, British author, translator)
The person who renders loyal service in a humble capacity will be chosen for higher responsibilities, just as the biblical servant who multiplied the one pound given him by his master was made ruler over ten cities...
B.C. Forbes
Successful philanthropy ought to be the by-product of good management.
Arthur C. Frantzreb
All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-, American economist)
I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948, Indian political, spiritual leader)
I don't believe in just ordering people to do things. You have to sort of grab an oar and row with them.
Harold S. Geneen (1910-1977, American accountant, industrialist)
There are no office hours for leaders.
Cardinal J. Gibbons
A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.
Arnold H. Glasgow
Napoleon affords us an example of the danger of elevating one's self to the absolute, and sacrificing everything to the carrying out of an idea.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist)
The only test of leadership is that somebody follows.
Robert K. Greenleaf
Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.
Lewis Grizzard
The leader seeks to communicate his vision to his followers. He captures their attention with his optimistic intuition of possible solutions to their needs. He influences them by the dynamism of his faith. He demonstrates confidence that the challenge can be met, the need resolved, the crisis overcome.
John Haggai
The leader seeks to communicate his vision to his followers. He captures their attention with his optimistic intuition of possible solutions to their needs. He influences them by the dynamism of his faith. He demonstrates confidence that the challenge can be met, the need resolved, the crisis overcome.
John Haggai
Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.
Robert Half (American businessman, founder of Robert Half & Associates)
Ethics must begin at the top of an organization. It is a leadership issue and the chief executive must set the example.
Edward Hennessy (American business executive, CEO of Allied Signal)
There is great force hidden in a gentle command.
George Herbert (1593-1632, British metaphysical poet)
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.
Theodore M. Hesburgh (1917-, American clergyman, university president)
In the great mass of our people there are plenty individuals of intelligence from among whom leadership can be recruited.
Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964, American President (31st))
The day before my inauguration President Eisenhower told me, "You'll find that no easy problems ever come to the President of the United States. If they are easy to solve, somebody else has solved them." I found that hard to believe, but now I know it is true.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963, American President (35th))
The highest of distinctions is service to others.
King George VI (1895-1952, British king, 1936--52)
One secret of leadership is that the mind of a leader never turns off. Leaders even when they are sightseers or spectators, are active; not passive observers.
James Humes (American lawyer, speaker, author)
Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.
Hubert H. Humphrey (1911-1978, American Vice President)
I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.
Lee Iacocca (1924-, American businessman, former CEO of Chrysler)
Leaders create an environment in which everyone has the opportunity to do work which matches his potential capability and for which an equitable differential reward is provided.
Elliott Jaques
Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826, American President (3rd))
Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's right.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973, American President (36th))
Morale is faith in the man at the top.
Albert S. Johnstone
Leaders are readers.
Charles "Tremendous" Jones (American motivational speaker, author)
The wise man who is not heeded is counted a fool, and the fool who proclaims the general folly first and loudest passes for a prophet and Fuhrer, and sometimes it is luckily the other way round as well, or else mankind would long since have perished of stupidity.
Carl Jung (1875-1961, Swiss psychiatrist)
Keep cool and you will command everyone.
Justinian (c.482-565, Roman emperor)
It is time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities. For there is a new world to be won.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963, American President (35th))
Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.
Henry Kissinger (1923-, American Secretary of State)
It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.
Henry Kissinger (1923-, American Secretary of State)
Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.
Henry Kissinger (1923-, American Secretary of State)
The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.
Henry Kissinger (1923-, American Secretary of State)
Anybody who accepts mediocrity -- in school, on the job, in life -- is a person who compromises, and when the leader compromises, the whole organization compromises.
Charles Knight
You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.
John Knox (1505-1572, Scottish historian, reformer)
If I advance, follow me! If I retreat, kill me! If I die, avenge me!
Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680, French classical writer)
That perfect bliss and sole felicity, the sweet fruition of an earthly crown.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593, British dramatist, poet)
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