Quotes About Leadership

Now I know what a statesman is he's a dead politician. We need more statesmen.

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.

Public office is supposed to be a public trust. This is a clear sign of the rampant corruption at the highest levels of the Republican leadership.

There was great leadership in this country at the time of World War II. There was also unrelenting resolve at home, in America's factories and on the farms, in the cities and the country.

If you believe your catcher is intelligent and you know that he has considerable experience, it is a good thing to leave the game almost entirely in his hands.

It is why boards were invented, to add sufficiently diverse wisdom to counter a single leader.

That is why effective organizations have monthly board meetings.

Executives are there in part to add diversity to board debate through their detailed operational experience. They are not there to act as ciphers of the chief executive.

The chairman must take the lead responsibility for the board development processes.

Every director needs an annual personal development plan agreed with the chairman.

boards must now be much clearer about their competencies, values and ethics

board as a whole, there is a particular need to learn how to be comfortable with being constructively critical

The rule of thumb at present seems to be that directors must not serve more than a total of nine years, three times a three-year service contract.

effective corporate governance built on the values of accountability, honesty and transparency

Strategic thinking is the director's role. Planning is an exclusively executive role.

trying to avoid here is the rush into planning projects and budgets at the expense of strategic thought

the wider consequences of a strategic decision needs destructive testing, especially by the board.

interactive graphic systems, instead of just lists of numbers, should greatly enhance the quality of boardroom debates.

The board should include a balance … such that no individual or small group of individuals can dominate the board's decision-making.

If the board is not taking the company purposefully into the future, who is?

Direction-givers need a 'brain-on', rather than a hands-on attitude.

asking discerning questions is a key directoral skill, and the wish to ask them a necessary attitude.

Directors need to be happy constructively questioning and criticizing each other,

The key point is that independence of thought is demanded of all directors when on a board.