We all want to follow great leaders to become a great leader ourselves. There are however qualities and mindsets that need to change to become that one great leader. Here are 30 inspiring quotes from some of the greatest leaders and authors of our time. Starting off with my favorite below…
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1:
“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”
– Nelson Mandela
2:
“Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise.”
– Woodrow Wilson
3:
“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”
– Stephen Covey
4:
“A leader is a dealer in hope.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte
5:
“The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.”
– Sir Winston Churchill
6:
“He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.”
– Aristotle
7:
“When I give a minister an order, I leave it to him to find the means to carry it out.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte
8:
“A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.”
– John Maxwell
9:
“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
10:
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right–for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
11:
“Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.”
– Stephen Covey
12:
“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.”
– General Colin Powell
13:
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
– John Quincy Adams
14:
“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.”
– Abraham Lincoln
15:
“A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.”
– John Maxwell
16:
“Earn your leadership every day.”
– Michael Jordan
17:
“Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.”
– Margaret Thatcher
18:
“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
19:
“The task of the leader is to get their people from where they are to where they have not been.“
– Henry Kissinger
20:
“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.”
– Tony Blair
21:
“The highest of distinctions is service to others.”
– King George VI
22:
“Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.”
– John C. Maxwell
23:
“The supreme quality of leadership is integrity.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
24:
“Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.”
– Harold S. Geneen
25:
“When people talk, listen completely.”
– Ernest Hemingway
26:
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
– Jack Welch
27:
“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”
– Jim Rohn
28:
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
– Steve Jobs
29:
“People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.”
– John C. Maxwell
30:
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
– Peter Drucker
In Conclusion
Hopefully some of these quotes inspired you to recognize the leader in you. Or hopefully its actually inspired you to become a better leader overall. One of the things that helps me is having the quotes that resonate more with me, printed and posted in my office. I especially love the one by Nelson Mandela and Eleanor Roosevelt. On bad days, looking up at the quote and realizing what my responsibility is, gives me a boost I need in the day.
What quotes have resonated with you?
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