Thoughtful Quotes About Leadership
Leadership is first about always improving and growing yourself -- so that you can actually lead effectively. Quotes on leadership from other great leaders are therefore worth consideration. Here we have assembled over 300 meaningful quotes for you to ponder as you hone and refine your leadership skills. Enjoy!
Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.
You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.
The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
Leadership is a mindset in action. So don't wait for the title. Leadership isn't something that anyone can give you -- you have to earn it and claim it for yourself.
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.
Always remember, Son, the best boss is the one who bosses the least. Whether it's cattle, or horses, or men; the least government is the best government.
The fastest surging woman leadership position is heading non-profit organizations. Women are not rejecting leadership positions -- they're rejecting politics.
Leadership is fixing your eyes not just on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Leadership grows like tall trees. It needs both toughness and flexibility -- toughness for accountability -- flexibility to adapt changes with a compassionate and caring heart for self and others.
Leadership is all about taking people on a journey. The challenge is that most of the time, we are asking people to follow us to places we ourselves have never been.
Some people feel, you make your case, if they listen to you, fine, if they don't, that's it. That's not what leadership is. Leadership is trying to continue to make a case.
True leadership lies in guiding others to success. In ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well.
Leaders are not known by their positions; they are known by their roles in those position. You have many gifts as a leader, but your dominant gift is what you will use to lead.
True leaders do not make choices with reference to the opinion of the majority. They make choices based on the opinion of the truth and the truth can come from either the majority or the minority!
A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world.
Leadership is standing with your people. People say you have to live to fight another day, but sometimes you have to show you are a true leader.
You learn far more from negative leadership than from positive leadership. Because you learn how not to do it. And, therefore, you learn how to do it.
A leadership culture is one where everyone thinks like an owner, a CEO or a managing director. It's one where everyone is entrepreneurial and proactive.
Leadership is a mindset that shifts from being a victim to creating results. Any one of us can demonstrate leadership in our work and within our lives.
Leadership is no longer about your position. It's now more about your passion for excellence and making a difference. You can lead without a title.

One of the best ways to influence people is to make them feel important. Most people enjoy those rare moments when others make them feel important. It is one of the deepest human desires.
Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power. And I try to model that in all of my interactions.
True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed… Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.
Empowerment isn't a buzzword among leadership gurus. It's a proven technique where leaders give their teams the appropriate training, tools, resources, and guidance to succeed.
Leadership is something you earn, something you're chosen for. You can't come in yelling, 'I'm your leader!' If it happens, it's because the other guys respect you.
My own definition of leadership is this: The capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.
I don't know what leadership is. You can't touch it. You can't feel it. It's not tangible. But I do know this: you recognize it when you see it.
Leadership is about doing what you know is right -- even when a growing din of voices around you is trying to convince you to accept what you know to be wrong.
The more varied the environments in which you exercise your leadership gift, the stronger that gift will become. You will become a far more effective leader.
To me, leadership is about encouraging people. It's about stimulating them. It's about enabling them to achieve what they can achieve -- and to do that with a purpose.
That is what leadership is all about: staking your ground ahead of where opinion is and convincing people, not simply following the popular opinion of the moment.
I think leadership is service and there is power in that giving: to help people, to inspire and motivate them to reach their fullest potential.
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.
Leadership is the other side of the coin of loneliness, and he who is a leader must always act alone. And acting alone, accept everything alone.
Our emerging workforce is not interested in command-and-control leadership. They don't want to do things because I said so; they want to do things because they want to do them.
Leadership can't be fabricated. If it is fabricated and rehearsed, you can't fool the guys in the locker room. So when you talk about leadership, it comes with performance. Leadership comes with consistency.
I think a major act of leadership right now, call it a radical act, is to create the places and processes so people can actually learn together, using our experiences.
Most leadership strategies are doomed to failure from the outset. As people have been noting for years, the majority of strategic initiatives that are driven from the top are marginally effective -- at best.
Leaders are like gardeners ... As leaders we are not only responsible for harvesting our own success but for cultivating the success of the next generation.
My philosophy of leadership is to surround myself with good people who have ability, judgment and knowledge, but above all, a passion for service.
Leadership must be likeable, affable, cordial, and above all emotional. The fashion of authoritarian leadership is gone. Football is about life. You can't be angry all day.

It's very important in a leadership role not to place your ego at the foreground and not to judge everything in relationship to how your ego is fed.
Leadership is not about working towards a goal single-handedly. Leadership is about inspiring and motivating people to work together towards a goal.
People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.
All leadership is appreciative leadership. It's the capacity to see the best in the world around us, in our colleagues, and in the groups we are trying to lead.
Growing your leadership capacity demands personal effectiveness. Being effective is the ability to do the right thing at all times, no matter the cost.
Growth is first of all for a leader's benefits before others shares the benefits. The best gift a leader can give to those he has been called to lead is the evidence of his own growth.

Leadership is the sum of those qualities of intellect, human understanding, and moral character that enables a person to inspire and control a group of people successfully.
Often the crowd does not recognize a leader until he has gone, and then they build a monument for him with the stones they threw at him in life.
Leaders who want to show sensitivity should listen often and long and talk short and seldom. Many so-called leaders are too busy to listen. True leaders know that time spent listening is well invested.
A leader is someone who is lifting a person, a community, or a group of people towards greater things, greater ideas and achievements leading to better life and experiences.
