Quotes About Leadership

Too often, leaders attempt to change the way people act without changing the way they think (i.e., their beliefs). As a result, they get compliance, but not commitment; involvement, but not investment; and progress, but not lasting performance.

As accountability deepens and people move Above The Line within the organization, a shift occurs from "tell me what to do," to "here is what I am going to do, what do you think?"—a truly profound and empowering approach to getting results.

The message: Sometimes you must be willing to burn all your other ships and grasp the helm of the one under your command. Doing so can stimulate the conviction and create the ownership necessary to get started on a new program of action that will help you rise above your circumstances.

people must abandon the past-oriented, blame-centered who-done-it definition of accountability.

It should come as no surprise that the real value and benefit of accountability stems from a person's or an organization's ability to influence events and outcomes before they happen.

from the willingness of an organization's people to embrace full accountability for the results they seek.

Accountability begins by clearly defining results. If the results are not clear, then accountability will break down, resulting in lower morale and misaligned work

For Albuquerque, everything was at stake. All the principal figures of the Indian administration were besieged in the Mandovi in the rain, with the shots of the enemy crashing in; the men and their captains cursed him for the lack of food, for his obstinacy, his obsessiveness, his vanity. All he had was his belief in a certain strategic vision, encouraging words, and the severities of discipline. It was perhaps his supreme moment of crisis.

Finally, Clement laid down a principle of Christian leadership and discipleship: "Therefore it is right for us, having studied so many and such great examples, to bow the neck and, adopting the attitude of obedience, to submit to those who are the leaders of our souls, so that by ceasing from this futile dissension we may attain the goal that is truly set before us, free from all blame."4

No matter how many people are involved in a negotiation, important decisions are typically made when no more than two people are in the room.

We're in a leadership position in sports. People look up to the National Football League.

It's an awesome responsibility, not only to maintain the level of success the NFL has, but to build on that.

The way you continue to be a successful business is you don't wait for the car to go off the cliff. You have to manage yourself. And make sure you do it in the right way so you are not making decisions in crisis.

You can't make a renaissance person anymore, because the range of what you would need to do is just impossible. But you could actually assemble a renaissance team."7 The integrative thinkers rely on their "renaissance teams" to broaden salience, maintain sophisticated causality, and create a holistic architecture in their drive for creative resolution.

One person could run a small state, if they were strong and angry enough. But the USA was too big for that.

The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

people don't respond well to being told what they must do.

In teams where there are significant power differences, when team members with less power are better able to speak up, the team has more success implementing new technology changes.

Intellectuals are naturally attracted by the idea of a planned society, in the belief that they will be in charge of it.

Back when he was forced to ride herd over the Detroit Pistons and all their gnarly egos, coach Chuck Daly used to have a saying: The game is simple, but the people are complicated.

apologize on behalf of the world's rich and powerful, who never ended up in battle themselves, but seemed all too willing to send others off to die.

it occurred to me that the modern spiritual leaders of my tradition were always somber, self-important men, thickly coated in others' idea of who they were supposed to be.

With all due respect, Fred, I'm the president of the United States. Let them in.

I have often been criticized for being an 'emotional' leader, for not being macho enough, but even during this early stage in my career, I believed that the magic of command lies in openness, in being both sympathetic to the troops and at the same time being apart, in always projecting supreme confidence in my own ability and in theirs to accomplish whatever task is set for us.