Quotes on Leadership

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Apart from guiding other people in order to achieve a common goal, setting directions and coaching the team, a true leader has to motivate and inspire as well as be motivated and inspired. And this is the case when the one can’t go without the best motivational quotes on leadership.

Great Leadership Quotes

If you feel like your employees experience the lack of motivation, you, as their guiding light, need to get them back on a track using these great leadership quotes.

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.
A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.
Anyone, anywhere, can make a positive difference.
The role of a great leader is not to give greatness to human beings, but to help them extract the greatness they already have inside them.
What you do has far greater impact than what you say.
You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That’s assault, not leadership.
Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.
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.
Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.
Uncertainty is a permanent part of the leadership landscape. It never goes away.

Most Inspiring Quotes about Leadership

You can either lead or be led by someone else. If you prefer the first option, don’t miss these inspiring quotes about leadership and leadership support.

It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. All that matters is you get up one more time than you were knocked down.
Leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses.
Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.
The most effective way to lead is to lead from within.
True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed… Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.
If you want to improve the organization, you have to improve yourself and the organization gets pulled up with you.
Power isn’t control at all–power is strength, and giving that strength to others. 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.
Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.
Servant leadership pumps up the team with confidence, which leads to high-performance.
It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep, than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.

Wise Leadership Quotes from Famous Leaders

Do you want to get pieces of advice which really work? The best option would be to turn to those who have changed the world we live in today.

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.
The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.
The leader is one who, out of the clutter, brings simplicity… Out of discord, harmony… And out of difficult, opportunity.
Never give an order that can’t be obeyed.
My jobs as a leader is to make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, and that they feel they’re having a meaningful impact.
No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.
Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.
I think leadership is not something you learn; it’s something you discover.

Instructing Quotes about Being a Leader

Everyone who has something to do with management knows that being a real leader isn’t a piece of cake. Would you like to learn more about what it takes to be a leader? Start with these instructive quotes.

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
A leader is a dealer in hope.
What helps people, helps business.
I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.
A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.
Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words.
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.
Employees of servant leaders are more helping and creative than those working with leaders who scored lower on servant leadership.
You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.

Best Motivational Quotes on Leadership

One of the most important parts of being a leader is the ability to create a compelling yet realistic vision of the company’s future and motivate the team to work in this direction.

In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.
One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.
Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.
Leaders never stop learning.
The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.
To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.
I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.
Sometimes leadership is planting trees under whose shade you’ll never sit. It may not happen fully till after I’m gone. But I know that the steps we’re taking are the right steps.

Enlightening Quotes Answering a Question ‘What Is a Leader?’

Wondering what is it like to be a captain for your crew? Opt for quotes about the silent leader and quotes explaining what is a leader below.

Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.
Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.
It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.
Whatever you are, be a good one.
Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.
High sentiments always win in the end, The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.
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.
I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: which is: Try to please everybody.
As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.
Leadership is an individual sport, one that has to be fine-tuned to each of the people that reports to you. Leaders also need to provide the direction, energy, encouragement and inspiration for each person who reports directly to the leader as well as for the overall organization.

Excellent Quotes about Being a True Team Leader

A leader is nobody without one’s team, but at the same time, a team can’t exist without a talented, determined and self-motivated leader.

No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.
The x-factor of great leadership is not personality, it’s humility.
Leading people is the most challenging and, therefore, the most gratifying undertaking of all human endeavors.
When we think we lead, we are most led.
Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.
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.
The strength of the team is each member. The strength of each member is the team.
Leadership is influence.

Positive Leadership Quotes for Students

Having a hard time coming up with the right words to teach students to be responsible and independent? Then educative quotes on leadership will definitely have a positive impact on them.

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
Don’t tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.
The best is he who calls men to the best. And those who heed the call are also blessed. But worthless who call not, heed not, but rest.
The art of communication is the language of leadership.
The challenge of leadership is to be strong but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
A leadership is someone who brings people together.
Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.
I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people.

Good Educational Quotes on Leadership

Learn if you have what it takes to be a good leader with these educational quotes on leadership.

The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.
Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.
The master of the people is their servant.
Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then, you have to play it better than anyone else.
The art of leadership is not to spend your time measuring, evaluating. It’s all about selecting the person. And if you believe you selected the right person, then you give that person the freedom, the authority, the delegation to innovate and to lead with some very simple measure.
Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others’ success, and then standing back and letting them shine.
I’m a shepherd, not a sheep, and I’ve always prided myself on being a leader and not a follower.
Leadership is an action, not a position.
It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.

Top Phrases Titled ‘Be a Leader’

A real leader knows when and how to use motivational quotes to get his/her team follow the lead.

It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.
If you want to build something great, you should focus on what the change is that you want to make in the world.
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.
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.
Leaders aren’t born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.
Do what is right, not what is easy.
One of the most important things for any leader is to never let anyone else define who you are. And you define who you are. I never think of myself as being a woman CEO of this company. I think of myself as a steward of a great institution.
Leadership is service to others.
Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal.
The higher the monkey climbs, the more he shows his tail.

Interesting Sayings about Boss Vs Leader

Being a boss is completely different from being a leader. Do you want to know the difference? If yes, go on reading these wonderful saying on boss vs leader.

You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.
A boss knows it all while a leader is always willing to learn.
Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.
A boss says “I”. A leader says “We”.
A boss talks more than listens. A leader listens more than talks.
A boss loves power; a leader loves people.
There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust.
A boss gives answers. A leader seeks solutions.
A boss says “you do it”, a leader says “Let’s do it”.
A leader believes that strength is unity. A boss is sure that his way is the only way.

Strong Leadership Philosophy Quotes

Being a leader is the science. These quotes contain strong leadership philosophy to help you get how leadership works.

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.
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.
A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.
Leadership is simply the ability of an individual to coalesce the efforts of other individuals toward achieving common goals. It boils down to looking after your people and ensuring that, from top to bottom, everyone feels part of the team.
People who succeed at the highest level are not lucky; they’re doing something differently than everyone else.
Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best.
The teacher who awakens and encourages in students a sense of possibility and responsibility is, to me, the ultimate leader.
You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.
To lead people, walk beside them. As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence … When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

Successful Leader Quotes

Success comes to those who aren’t afraid to take risks and know how to make the best of the situation. Successful leader quotes will help you to deal with problems and succeed.

To have long term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way.
There’s two parts of leadership. You’ve got to be a good leader – you’ve got to be somebody that people want to emulate and care about the other people. But the other guys that you have have to accept their leadership. They have to respond to it. That’s the chemistry that you never know how that is going to happen.
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
A person who is quietly confident makes the best leader.
Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.
The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.
If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.
A strong leader avoids becoming over-confident to the point of impaired judgment.
Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

Short Leadership Quote of the Day

Form a new habit of learning something new every day. That’s when short leadership quotes of the day will definitely come in handy.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
You don’t need a title to be a leader.
Leadership is an ever-evolving position.
Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.
Above all, leadership is a position of servanthood.
Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.
To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.
Leaders come in two flavors, expanders and containers. The best leadership teams have a mix of both.
All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them.

Best Quotes on Management and Leadership

We’ve collected only the best quotes about leadership in business and management so you could pick your favorites.

I have no methods. All I do is accept people as they are.
You manage things; you lead people.
The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.
The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
Be the kind of leader that you would follow.
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Take the bull by the horns.
Leadership contains certain elements of good management, but it requires that you inspire, that you build durable trust. For an organization to be not just good but to win, leadership means evoking participation larger than the job description, commitment deeper than any job contract’s wording.
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 speed of the leader is the speed of the gang.

Powerful Quotes on Leadership and Change

In this section, you will find the most powerful quotes and sayings about leadership and change from artists, philosophers, business and national leaders.

We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
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.
Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.
The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Leadership is not about the next election, it’s about the next generation.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.

Effective Quotes about Service and Leadership

If you are looking for some really functioning quotes about leadership, service and choosing a leader, opt for this part of our article.

Leadership is about being of service to others, not being served by others. Be a mentor, not a boss.
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others.
When you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
Leaders instill in their people a hope for success and a belief in themselves. Positive leaders empower people to accomplish their goals.
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.
Leadership is solving problems. 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 or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.
Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.
One man can make a difference.

Tutoring Quotes about Leadership Qualities

If you search for information about what traits and qualities a real leader should have, you are in the right place at the right time.

The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.
Communication is the most important skill any leader can possess.
Humility is a great quality of leadership which derives respect and not just fear or hatred.
Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.
You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.
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.
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.
Leadership offers an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, no matter what the project.

Fascinating Quotes about How to Be a Leader, Not a Follower

Getting bored reading long irrelevant texts about how to become a leader, not a follower? How about reading some truly fascinating quotes instead? Only relevant and useful information.

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it.
He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.
I’m not a follower. I’m a leader. And anyone who speaks their mind is always criticized.
Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
As a leader your every action has a consequence, make sure it is one you intend.
Even the largest army is nothing without a good general.
The task of the leader is to get their people from where they are to where they have not been.
One of my beliefs about leadership is it’s not how many followers you have, but how many people you have with different opinions that you can bring together and try to be a good listener.

Categories: Inspirational, Quotes