Leaders - Quotes

"Safety first" has been the motto of the human race for half a million years; but it has never been the motto of leaders. A leader must face danger. He must take the risk and the blame, and the brunt of the storm. - Herbert N. Casson

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

A good leader can inspire others at the workplace even when he wakes up not feeling inspired that morning. They change themselves internally to meet their calling and fulfil their responsibilities as a leader. - Unknown

A good leader makes a good follower. - Bion 

A good leader needs to stand behind his or her followers as often as he or she needs to stand in front of them. - Marilyn vos Savant

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

A leader ... is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. - Nelson Mandela

A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done. - Ralph Lauren

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 leader is a dealer in hope. - Napoleon Bonaparte

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. - John C. Maxwell

A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see and who sees before others see. - Leroy Eimes

A leader isn't someone who forces others to make him stronger; a leader is someone willing to give his strength to others that they may have the strength to stand on their own. - Beth Revis

A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice. - James Callaghan

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. - Rosalynn Carter

A leader takes people where they would never go on their own. - Hans Finzel

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. - David Gergen

A lot of leaders tend to make popular decisions rather then effective ones. These are ‘nice’ leaders – not ‘effective’ leaders. - Unknown

A man can only lead when others accept him as their leader, and he has only as much authority as his subjects give to him. All of the brilliant ideas in the world cannot save your kingdom if no one will listen to them. - Brandon Sanderson

A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example. - Joe Dimaggio

A prime function of a leader is to keep hope alive. - John William Gardner

A real leader faces the music, even when he does not like the tune. - Unknown

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

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

An effective leader is a person who is respected for his stand; not popularity with the masses. - Unknown

Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. - John C. Maxwell

Are you the leader who provides people ropes to hang themselves; or one who gives out ropes to lead people to safety and happiness. - Unknown

As a leader, you have to not only do the right thing, but be perceived to be doing the right thing. A consequence of seeking a leadership position is being put under intense public scrutiny, being held to high standards, and enhancing a reputation that is constantly under threat. - Jeffrey Sonnenfeld

At the heart of leadership is the leader's relationship with followers. People will entrust their hopes and dreams to another person only if they think the other is a reliable vessel. - David Gergan

Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position. - Brian Tracy

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. - Jack Welch

Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience. - Colin Powell

Every age fraught with discord and danger seems to spawn a leader meant only for that age, a political giant whose absence, in retrospect, seems inconceivable when the history of that age is written. - Dan Simmons

Everyone in a way is a leader. Some lead you to success; others will lead you to despair. Choose your leader wisely and be a wise leader if you are one. - Unknown

Good leaders make people feel that they are 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 centred and that gives their work meaning. - Warren Bennis

Good leaders must know how to reward those who succeed and know when to retrain, move, or fire ineffective staff. - Colin Power

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand. -  Colin Powell

Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths. - John H. Zenger & Joseph Folkman

Great leaders genuinely care for and love the people they lead more than they love leading itself. Leadership without love degenerates into self-serving manipulation. - Rick Warren

Great leaders inspire. They maintain a hopeful attitude, even in the face of discouraging setbacks, constant criticism and abundant opposition. People don't follow discouraged leaders. They follow those who persist with hope. - Rick Warren

He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader. - Aristotle

I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself. - Robert E. Lee

I like a leader who can, while pointing out a mistake, bring up the good things the other person has done. If you do that, then the person sees that you have a complete picture of him. There is nobody more dangerous than one who has been humiliated, even when you humiliate him rightly. - Nelson Mandela

If you command wisely, you'll be obeyed cheerfully. - Thomas Fuller

If you want to be a leader, understand that you are a natural focal point for attack of every kind. Accepting this reality will alleviate you from the feeling of being ‘unfairly’ treated by the masses you serve. - Unknown

If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader. - Dolly Parton

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. - John Quincy Adams

In the simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, and gets up and goes. - John Erskine

It is hard to look up to a leader who keeps his ear to the ground. - James H. Boren

It often happens that less depends upon the valour of an army than the skill of the leader. - Aristophanes

Lead and inspire people. Don't try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead. - Ross Perot

Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. - General George Patton

Leaders are creatures of their environment, but unlike most creatures, they are also movers of it. As movers of and within the organization, they push it forward, at the same time shaping it as much as it shapes them. - John Baldoni

Leaders are expected to look into the future, to gaze across the time horizon and communicate to us what they see. It's not about being prescient or clairvoyant. It's about being discerning and perceptive. It's about noticing what's around the corner. - James M Kouzes & Barry Posner

Leaders don’t force people to follow. They invite them on a journey. - Unknown

Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line. - Warren G. Bennis

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. - John C. Maxwell

Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. - John C. Maxwell

Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say. - Andy Stanley

Leading means running fast enough to keep ahead of your people. - S. M. Stirling

Life is the leader's laboratory, and exemplary leaders use it to conduct as many experiments as possible. Try, fail, learn. Try, fail, learn. Try, fail, learn. That's the leader's mantra. Leaders are learners. They learn from their failures as well as their successes, and they make it possible for others to do the same. - James M. Kouzes & Barry Z. Posner

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

One measure of leadership is the calibre of people who choose to follow you. - Dennis A. Peer

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. - Arnold Glasgow

Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish. - Sam Walton

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. - John C. Maxwell

People who are not leaders automatically gravitate toward lines – limitations set by others. Many people are taught this in kindergarten when they are instructed to stay within the lines while colouring. But leaders are more creative than that. They look for options and opportunities. They try to take things in a new direction, or beyond the limit. Progress and innovation are made by people who think without lines. - John C. Maxwell

Real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination. - Unknown

Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity. - Reed Markham

The best leaders turn their followers into leaders, realizing that the journey ahead requires many guides. - James M. Kouzes & Barry Z. Posner

The best managers and leaders are those who can carve out the excellence in the ordinary people they lead and manage. - Unknown

The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says, ‘Go!’ - a leader says, ‘Let's go!’ - E. M. Kelly

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. - Walter Lippmann

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. - Max de Pree

The great leader attracts to himself men of kindred character, drawing them towards him as the loadstone draws iron. - Samuel Smiles

The great leader seldom moves by guesswork and without proper forward planning. He has a plan to guide his actions towards his goal in a definite manner and to counter any pitfalls along the journey. - Unknown

The great leaders are like the best conductors – they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players. - Blaine Lee

The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things. - Ronald Reagan

The greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision. - Ken Blanchard

The issue of fairness and justice is so universal that no leader can hope to retain for long the loyalty and respect of his followers without them. - Unknown

The job of leaders is to think from their heads, communicate from their hearts and act from their guts. - David Gaster

The leader continually passes on the vision to those who come around, knowing that dreams, if presented right, are contagious. - John C. Maxwell

The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist. - Eric Hoffer

The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers. … Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership. - Gary Wills

The leader must know, must know that he knows, and must be able to make it abundantly clear to those about him that he knows. - Clarence R. Randall

The manager administers, the leader innovates. The manager maintains, the leader develops. The manager relies on systems, the leader relies on people. The manager counts on controls, the leader counts on trust. The manager does things right, the leader does the right thing. - Unknown

The responsibility of a leader is to bring those that are under his direction from where they are now to where they have never been. - James Mendel

The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such. - Andre Maurois

The multitude who require to be led, still hate their leaders. - William Hazlitt

The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves. - Ray Kroc

The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way. - Henry Miller

The secret of a leader lies in the tests he has faced over the whole course of his life and the habit of action he develops in meeting those tests. - Gail Sheehy

The strength of the group is in the will of the leader, and the will is character in action. - Vince Lombardi

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. - Henry Kissinger

The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop people to the point that they eventually surpass him or her in knowledge and ability. - Fred A. Manske, Jr.

There are excellent leaders but no perfect leaders. If your leader fails sometimes, it is only a manifestation of their imperfection and should not tarnish him as a good leader. - Unknown

There are two kinds of leaders: those who are interested in the flock, and those who are interested in the fleece. - Evan Esar

To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn’t know where he is going. - Joe Namath

To lead people, walk behind them. - Lao Tzu

True leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders. - Tom Peters

Truly inspiring leaders are authentic, that is, they have done their strategic homework, they have a vision that matches the people they are working with, and they believe in that vision deeply. They are not faking it. - Ronald J. Burke & Cary L. Cooper

When I talk to managers, I get the feeling that they are important. When I talk to leaders, I get the feeling that I am important. - Unknown  

When there is danger, a good leader takes the front line; but when there is celebration, a good leader stays in the back of the room. - Nelson Mandela

When we think we lead, we are most led. - Lord Bryon

You can't lead anyone else further than you have gone yourself. - Gene Mauch

You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case. - Ken Kesey

You know you're a good leader when people follow you out of curiosity. - Colin Powell