Grab a Quote
A powerful quote is a great way to begin the training experience, and it’s an excellent way to wrap up the day. Whether you plan to grab a quote for yourself, or to share in your next training session the Solutions Vault has you covered. New quotes are added regularly in four categories for your convenience. So go ahead, grab a quote and add an edge to your next presentation.
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“A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history” “A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.” “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” “A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.” “A plan is a list of actions arranged in whatever sequence is thought likely to achieve an objective.” “Always have a plan, and believe in it. Nothing happens by accident.” “Before beginning, plan carefully.” “Companies that give excellent service reward employees for providing it.” “Conducting your business in a socially responsible way is good business. It means that you can attract better employees and that customers will know what you stand for and like you for it.” “Decisions become easier when your will to please God outweighs your will to please the world.” “Developing the plan is actually laying out the sequence of events that have to occur for you to achieve your goal.” “Ed’s not the type to rely on a lot of glitzy presentation. He’s made some huge bets, and I think he’s been absolutely right about them. His business decisions speak louder than his words.” “Employees tend to live up to their managers expectations of them. If a managers expectations are high, productivity is likely to be excellent.” “Encourage your people to be committed to a project rather than just be involved in it.” “Engaging employees and holding managers accountable for results is critical to our success and we look forward to bringing these successful strategies to more federal agencies.” “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there” “Everything is something you decide to do, and there is nothing you have to do.” “Four steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently.” “I consider it the highest compliment when my employees go out and start their own companies in competition with me. I always send them a plant to wish them well. Of course, it’s a cactus.” “I repeat, I made a good decision. Anyone who understands the rules of football must see that. In all this business, I have never doubted for a moment that I was right. Not for one moment.” “I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity” “If a man will begin with certainties he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties” “If I had my druthers, we wouldn’t have made that decision … sometimes business decisions trump technology decisions.” “In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.” “In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” “In this view, the role of the great majority of Americans is simply to buy the products produced, work happily for their wages, and leave all of the significant economic decisions to the capitalists.” Barney Frank “Indecision becomes decision with time.” “It might be said that it is the ideal of the employer to have production without employees and the ideal of the employee is to have income without work.” “It was a business decision. We just felt this was the right time for me to come in. There’s no love lost, there’s no harm. I’m coming in with an open mind and ready to play, no grudges at all.” “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” “It’s really to help us grow the assets of the company, to create more value to the employees, the owners, managers and everyone involved.” “I’ve been blessed to find people who are smarter than I am, and they help me to execute the vision I have.” “Just the act of listening means more than you can imagine to most employees.” “Life is the sum of all your choices.” “Long-range planning works best in the short term” “Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.” “Many Enron employees lost 70 percent to 90 percent of their retirement assets after the company indicated that it would re-state profit reports.” “Mind is all that counts. You can be whatever you make up your mind to be.” “Most discussions of decision making assume that only senior executives make decisions or that only senior executives’ decisions matter. This is a dangerous mistake.” “My job is a job to make decisions. I’m a decision.. if the job description were, what do you do.. it’s decision maker.” “My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.” “One way to make sure everyone gets to work on time would be to have 95 parking spaces for every 100 employees” “Organizations that remain vital show their new employees that they are needed. At the same time, they never forget the value of their long-service employees. And they always give both a second chance.” “Plan your progress carefully; hour-by hour, day-by-day, month-by-month. Organized activity and maintained enthusiasm are the wellsprings of your power.” “Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.” “Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” “Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” “Someone needs to say from time to time that our leaders are appointed leaders, are engaged in practices that are arrogant.” “Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.” “Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can’t miss.” “Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat” “Strict adherence to these guidelines will ensure that federal employees will respect the rights of those who engage in religious practices or espouse religious beliefs.” “Success is not for the timid. It is for those who seek guidance, make decisions, and take decisive action.” “Take time to appreciate employees and they will reciprocate in a thousand ways.” “The best executive has the sense enough to pick good men, and the self-restraint enough to keep from meddling” “The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.” “The greatest asset a technology company has is not its technology, but its employees — who invent, nurture, and inspire success. This award highlights our success in creating and maintaining a fantastic workplace for our greatest asset.” “The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.” “The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all” “The person who figures out how to harness the collective genius of his or her organization is going to blow the competition away” “The resentment that criticism engenders can demoralize employees, family members and friends, and still not correct the situation that has been condemned.” “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it” “This is a superior merger because it makes more sense strategically. Qwest is also a more substantial company — larger in terms of size, employees, revenues and fixed assets.” “Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness” “Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.” “Today the large organization is lord and master, and most of its employees have been desensitized much as were the medieval peasants who never knew they were serfs.” “Ultimately, if employees are given the choice to watch key matches it may result in reduced absenteeism and a more responsible approach to personal workloads.” “Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.” “We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice” “We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.” “We believe ranchers and farmers and family business owners can make better decisions about the future than the government can” “We have achieved a great deal in our restructuring to reposition this company and build upon our assets, an unrivaled global network and our dedicated employees.” “We have consistently said that we would settle only if it made good business sense. Averting further disruption, uncertainty and distraction for our company and our clients is the right decision.” “We should pass a flex time law that allows employees to take their overtime pay in money or in time off, depending on what’s better for their family.” “We want passion for our business.. workers who can interpret and execute our mission, who want to build a career, not just take a temporary job.” “When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact” “When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.” “When you have to make a choice and you don’t make it, that itself is a choice.” “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” “While it is always a difficult decision to eliminate staff, this is the right thing to do for the business. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, these changes will make us a nimbler, more flexible organization that is closer to our customers and better positioned to optimize our assets and increase profitability and shareholder value.” “You have to have doubts. I have collaborators I work with. I listen and then I decide. That’s how it works.” “You have to have doubts. I have collaborators I work with. I listen and then I decide. That’s how it works.” “You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.” end of new Quotes! “A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him.” “A blend of continuity and change which is a difficult balancing act to strike in politics [on what GB will bring to the leadership of the Labour party]“ “A bold onset is half the battle.” “A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” “A good general not only sees the way to victory; he also knows when victory is impossible.” “A good leader can’t get too far ahead of his followers.” “A good leader is not the person who does things right, but the person who finds the right things to do.” “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” “A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.” “A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.” “A leader is a dealer in hope.” “A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances.” “A leader is a man who had the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want to do, and like it.” “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.” “A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs” “A leader is one who influences a specific group of people to move in a God-given direction.” “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” “A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under” “A leader is worthy of followers only to the degree he or she is worthy of their trust.” “A leader leads by example not by force” “A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.” Anonymous “A leader must have the courage to act against an expert’s advice.” “A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for his action.” Jawaharlal Nehru “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.” “A leader, once convinced that a particular course of action is the right one, must be undaunted when the going gets tough.” “A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.” “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” “A lot of people are afraid to tell the truth, to say no. That’s where toughness comes into play. Toughness is not being a bully. It’s having backbone.” “A lot of people are very upset and cross about that. It was absolutely stupid, a stupid, stupid thing to do[on Gordon Brown's handling of the Labour leadership saga]“ “A low morality will not sustain leadership long, its influence quickly vanishes, it cannot produce its own succession.” “A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” “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 regard that quality in its chosen leaders today – and in fact we have forgotten.” “A new leader has to be able to change an organization that is dreamless, soulless and visionless .. someone’s got to make a wake up call.” “A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader.” “A prime function of a leader is to keep hope alive.” “A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn’t like the tune.” “A tyrant is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.” “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” “Absolute identity with one’s cause is the first and great condition of successful leadership.” “All leadership is influence.” “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.” “All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.” “An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.” “An employee’s motivation is a direct result of the sum of interactions with his or her manager.” “Any one can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” “As a leader, you’re probably not doing a good job unless your employees can do a good impression of you when you’re not around” Patrick Lencioni “As difficult as these plant actions are, we want to try to minimize the impact on employees in so far as we can.” “At one time or another, everyone chooses or is asked to be a leader. With training and understanding, we can all be better leaders when we are called to be in a leadership position.” “Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position.” “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” “Big thinking precedes great achievement.” “Business social responsibility should not be coerced; it is a voluntary decision that the entrepreneurial leadership of every company must make on its own.” “But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.” “By depriving the charged person of any defenses [the rulings] mean that sexual dalliance, however voluntarily engaged in, becomes harassment whenever an employee sees fit, after the fact, so to characterize it.” “By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning.” “Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time.” “Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.” “City employees will be hired and promoted because of their abilities – without outside interference.” “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” “Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility. Effective leaders are able to” “Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.” “Despite these hurdles, manufacturers in the U.S. and their employees are doing remarkable work.” “Dictators ride to and from upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” Mother Teresa “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” William B. Sprague “Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.” “Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.” “Don’t be afraid to take a big step when one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small steps.” “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” “Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.” “Employees are bearing more of the costs because double-digit increases are unsustainable.” “Employees make the best dates. You don’t have to pick them up and they’re always tax-deductible.” “Every successful leader must instill the vision of where the organization is going and what is necessary to attain that goal.” John Di Frances“Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing.” “Everybody works just a little bit harder, … They drive their employees very hard.” “Excellence is not an accomplishment. It is a spirit, a never-ending process.” “Forethought and prudence are the proper qualities of a leader.” Tacitus “Forever is composed of nows.” “Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.” “Good leaders must first become good servants.” “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.” “Great leaders.. motivate large groups of individuals to improve the human condition.” “Great necessities call forth great leaders.” “Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.” “He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.” “He that cannot obey, cannot command.” “He who has great power should use it lightly” Seneca “He who has learned how to obey will know how to command.” “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” Aristotle “How do you know you have won? When the energy is coming the other way and when your people are visibly growing individually and as a group.” “I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.” “I am happy for there to be a leadership contest. I think there should be” “I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.” “I am reminded how hollow the label of leadership sometimes is and how heroic followership can be” “I am the people’s choice. [which people? for Labour party deputy gravy train... err... leadership]“ “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: which is: Try to please everybody.” “I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.” “I don’t think one should be angry about these things. The task is to draw the party together and move forward [on the Mark Oaten scandal breaking during a leadership election]“ “I light my candle from their torches.” “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” “I never had much faith in leaders. I am willing to be charged with almost anything, rather than to be charged with being a leader. I am suspicious of leaders, and especially of the intellectual variety. Give me the rank and file every day in the week. If you go to the city of Washington, and you examine the pages of the Congressional Directory, you will find that almost all of those corporation lawyers and cowardly politicians, members of Congress, and mis-representatives of the masses — you will find that almost all of them claim, in glowing terms, that they have risen from the ranks to places of eminence and distinction. I am very glad I cannot make that claim for myself. I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks” “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” “I think it sends a message that they are looking for a younger leader probably, but I don’t think my age was actually remarkably relevant” “I urge the Iraqi leadership for sake of its own people… to seize this opportunity and thereby begin to end the isolation and suffering of the Iraqi people.” “I’m going to try to get a program together training more employees for CPR and defibrillator training.” “I’ve always felt it was not up to anyone else to make me give my best.” “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.” “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants.” “If it’s a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission.” “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” “If what you’re working for really matters, you’ll give it all you’ve got.” “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.” “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” “Ill can he rule the great that cannot reach the small.” “Impossible is a word found only in a fool’s dictionary.” Napoleon “In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” “In matters of style, swim with the current; In matters of principle, stand like a rock.” “In motivating people, you’ve got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people by example and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved.” “In my view it is better for the Labour Party, the leadership and the new prime minister that he be given the maximum flexibility.” John Reid “In the great mass of our people there are plenty individuals of intelligence from among whom leadership can be recruited.” “In this world a man must either be an anvil or hammer.” “In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” “Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.” “Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.” “It is absurd that a man should rule others, who cannot rule himself. (Absurdum est ut alios regat, qui seipsum regere nescit.)” Latin Proverb “It is amazing what you can accomplish when you do not care who gets the credit.” “It is impossible to imagine anything which better becomes a ruler than mercy.” “It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself.” “It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world.” “It is not so much that man is a herd animal, said Freud, but that he is a horde animal led by a chief.” “It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.” “It takes leaders to grow other leaders.” “It’s a matter of coaching greatness out of people.” “It’s a pity because, frankly, he’s going to get humiliated” “It’s been a very difficult year for the employees that have been affected. But we are now seeing the benefit of these decisions.” “It’s great to be great, but its greater to be human.” “It’s inadequate in terms of its scope, it’s inadequate in terms of its information technology, leadership, management systems and processes” “Jesters do oft prove prophets.” “Just the act of listening means more than you can imagine to most employees.” “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others.” “Kites rise highest against the wind — not with it.” “Knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can do.” “Knowledge workers are neither farmers nor labor nor business; they are employees of organizations.” “Lead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead.” “Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.” “Leaders are problem solvers by talent and temperament, and by choice.” “Leaders are the ones who keep faith with the past, keep step with the present, and keep the promise to posterity.” “Leaders learn to lead as apprentices in the classroom of experience with senior leaders.” “Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.” “Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.” “Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems.” “Leaders who win the respect of others are the ones who deliver more than they promise, not the ones who promise more that they can deliver.” “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” “Leadership appears to be the art of getting others to want to do something you are convinced should be done.” “Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future” Edwin H. Friedman “Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned” “Leadership comes through respect, and a large part of respect is liking someone.” “Leadership development is a lifetime journey, not a quick trip.” “Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise.” “Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.” “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 “Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.” “Leadership is action, not position.” “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire the power to inspire others to follow.” “Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.” “Leadership is getting people to work for you when they are not obligated.” “Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.” “Leadership is much more an art, a belief, a condition of the heart, than a set of things to do. The visible signs of artful leadership are expressed, ultimately, in its practice.” “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.” “Leadership is not manifested by coercion, even against the resented. Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high premium on the end justifying any means and any measures.” “Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.” “Leadership is the ability of a single individual through his or her actions to motivate others to higher levels of achievement.” “Leadership is the ability to get extraordinary achievement from ordinary people.” “Leadership is the activity of influencing people to cooperate toward some goal which they come to find desirable.” “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” “Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.” “Leadership is the special quality which enables people to stand up and pull the rest of us over the horizon.” “Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.” “Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing.” “Leadership without character is unthinkable – or should be.” Warren Bennis “Leadership: the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” “Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now.” “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” “Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes.” “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” “Look over your shoulder now and then to be sure someone’s following you.” “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” “Management works in the system. Leadership works on the system.” “Misfortunes, untoward events, lay open, disclose the skill of a general, while success conceals his weakness, his weak points.” “Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their jobs done.” “Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.” “Never give an order that can’t be obeyed” “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” “Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.” “No executive has ever suffered because his subordinates were strong and effective.” “No man can stand on top because he is put there.” “No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.” “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or to get all the credit for doing it.” “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.” “No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.” “Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose– a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.” “One key to successful leadership is continuous personal change. Personal change is a reflection of our inner growth and empowerment.” “One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.” “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” “One’s own employees ought to be one’s own best customers. Paying high wages is behind the prosperity of this country.” “Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men — the other 999 follow women.” “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” “Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission.” “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives” “People cannot be managed. Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.” “People prefer to follow those who help them, not those who intimidate them.” “Pity the leader caught between unloving critics and uncritical lovers.” “Presidential leadership needn’t always cost money. Look for low and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.” “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 “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” Paul J. Meyer “Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.” “Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Mark Twain “Reason and judgment are the qualities of a leader.” Tacitus “Respect is the key determinant of high performance leadership. How much people respect you determines how well they perform.” “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” “Skill in the art of communication is crucial to a leader’s success.” “Slump, and the world slumps with you. Push, and you push alone.” “Some of the leverage has moved from the employer to the employee.” “Somewhere, sometime, the leader within each of us may get the call to step forward.” “Speak Softly and carry a big stick; you will go far” “Strict adherence to these guidelines will ensure that federal employees will respect the rights of those who engage in religious practices or espouse religious beliefs.” “Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.” “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” “Such as we are made of, such we be.” Shakespeare “Take care, don’t fight, and remember: if you do not choose to lead, you will forever be led by others. Find what scares you, and do it. And you can make a difference, if you choose to do so.” “Take time to appreciate employees and they will reciprocate in a thousand ways.” “Teamwork is a make or break situation. Either you help make it or the lack of it will break you.” “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” “The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses.” “The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.” “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” “The country is full of good coaches. What it takes to win is a bunch of interested players.” “The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” “The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.” “The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.” “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant” “The first step to leadership is servanthood.” “The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.” “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” “The height of ability in the least able consists in knowing how to submit to the good leadership of others.” “The job of leaders is to think from their heads, communicate from their hearts and to act from their guts.” “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” “The leader must know, must know that he knows, and must be able to make it abundantly clear to those around him that he knows” “The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function.” “The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.” “The most important thing about a commander is his effect on morale.” “The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do.” “The only real training for leadership is leadership.” “The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” “The power is detested, and miserable the life, of him who wishes to be feared rather than to be loved.” “The price of greatness is responsibility.” “The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.” “The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.” “The quality of leadership, more than any other single factor, determines the success or failure of an organization.” “The question, ‘Who ought to be boss?’, is like asking, ‘Who ought to be the tenor in the quartet?’ Obviously, the man who can sing tenor.” “The right man is the one who seizes the moment.” “The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.” “The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.” “The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” “The three C’s of leadership are Consideration,Caring,and Courtesy.” “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” “There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.” “There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.” “Time is the coin of life. Only you can determine how it will be spent.” “To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult.” “To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” “To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.” “To lead the people, walk behind them.” “To lead uninstructed people to war is to throw them away.” Confucius “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.” “Trust is the essence of leadership.” “Until all of us have made it, none of us have made it.” “We must become the change we want to see.” Gandhi “What you cannot enforce, do not command.” Sophocles “When I give a minister an order, I leave it to him to find the means to carry it out.” “When it’s time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived.” “When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.” “You are what you think. You are what you go for. You are what you do!” “You can’t lead anyone else further than you have gone yourself.” “You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.” “You cannot raise a man up by calling him down.” “You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” “You don’t manage people, you manage things. You lead people.” “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” “You have to love people to serve them. Otherwise they will not allow you to serve them.” “You must love soldiers in order to understand them, and understand them in order to lead them.” “You must unite your constituents around a common cause and connect with them as human beings” “You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go.”
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