Quotes About Leadership

When ministers wield absolute authority, everyone loses, even God.

The legitimate object of government," he later asserted, "is 'to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves.

But Lincoln was as immovable as stone. "I am a slow walker," he said, "but I never walk back." He conceded that the final proclamation "has done about as much harm as good.

Described by a contemporary as "Napoleonic in stature," he was diminutive, and to overcome this he took to placing his office

If…there is a conflict between structure and strategy, the structure will win.

Do not try to predict the effects your actions will have, because you can't. Instead, encourage people to adapt their actions to realize the overall intention as they observe what is actually happening. Give them boundaries which are broad enough to take decisions for themselves and act on them.

What matters about creating alignment around a strategy is not the volume of communication, but its quality and precision.

Having worked out what matters most now, pass the message on to others and give them responsibility for carrying out their part in the plan. Keep it simple. Don't tell people what to do and how to do it. Instead, be as clear as you can about your intentions. Say what you want people to achieve and, above all, tell them why. Then ask them to tell you what they are going to do as a result.

What cannot be made simple cannot be made clear and what is not clear will not get done.

Kanalkampfführer' – Channel Battle Leader.

The trouble is that organizations like processes. They are warm, familiar things and can be rolled out fairly easily. It is therefore tempting to understand strategy execution as a process, distribute the forms, get everyone to fill them in, and relax. The result will be resentment, rigidity, and stagnation.

organizations are made up of people. If this should seem obvious, the implications of acknowledging it are not.

Ohno is credited with the saying that "having no problems is the biggest problem of all." The result is the most productive automotive manufacturing system in the world today, which is sustaining its lead despite every attempt by its rivals to copy it. It has its origins in the need to overcome a constraint.

response entirely off its own bat.29 When asked about an official reply, Churchill responded that he had no intention of replying to Hitler himself, as he was not on speaking terms with him.

In a matrix structure of the kind prevalent today, thinking two levels up also has the benefit of helping to resolve the dilemmas the matrix naturally creates. The "next level up" may well be ambiguous. Two bosses might point in different directions. Understanding the level above them generally resolves the issue and allows action.

Eagle had indeed revealed what Churchill, no less, was to characterise as the essence of war: 'a catalogue of mistakes and misfortunes'6.

Shakespeare gave Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt, when the King addresses his men as 'we few, we happy few, we band of brothers'. Churchill was wont to compare the fighter pilots with knights.

The best junior officers with at least three years' service could apply for a "high potentials" course which would lead to entry into the General Staff.

The big issue was not strategy but executing strategy. There was plenty of activity, but not much action.

the gap between promises and results," which it claims is itself a result of "the gap between what a company's leaders want to achieve and the ability of their organization to achieve it"; that is, the alignment gap – getting the organization to do what its leaders want.35

It was Voltaire who said that 'in a government, you need both shepherds and butchers.' The problem in France was that the butchers kept killing the shepherds, while the sheep turned cannibal.

You said in your book that at the end of the day, every politician is human. What about during the day?

Part of the beauty of the show in a way is that he's not perfect, but you can always count on him to do the right thing in a pinch. That's why he inspires people and inspires me.

You can function just as long as your superiors have faith and confidence in you. When they lose it—your fault, other people's fault, whatever—then you have to leave and make room for the next guy. Your time at the plate is over.