Quotes About Leadership

Every walk of life falls under the Testicular Imperative: Either you have the world by them, or it has you.

Considering that Timur had ignored every instrument of government except terror, it is remarkable his immediate successors managed to retain control of most of his empire.

Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds.

The day people stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.

One of the fondest expressions around is that [America] can't be the world's policeman. But guess who gets called when suddenly someone needs a cop.

War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.

Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team's mission.

Politics is not bean bags. It's serious, tough stuff.

I don't think we handled the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad as well as we might have. But that's now history.

Don't let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn't go with it.

In other words, don't expect to always be great. Disappointments, failures and setbacks are a normal part of the lifecycle of a unit or a company and what the leader has to do is constantly be up and say 'we have a problem, let's go and get it'.

I think whether you're having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.

When you decide to get involved in a military operation in a place like Syria, you've got to be prepared, as we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, to become the government, and I'm not sure any country, either the United States or I don't hear of anyone else, who's willing to take on that responsibility.

Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

The day you are not solving problems or are not up to your butt in problems is probably a day you are no longer leading. If your desk is clean and no one is bringing you problems, you should be very worried. It means that people don't think you can solve them or don't want to hear about them. Or, far worse, it means they don't think you care.

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers who can cut through the argument debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.

Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves.

ON BUSY BASTARDS: A busy bastard can't stop finding things to do. He never rests and as a result, his staff never rests. He's always making work that expands to fill whatever time is available. The point I make in my book is: Be busy, work hard, but don't become so busy that you cut out other things in life, like family and recreation and hobbies. And never be so busy that you're not giving your staff and your followers enough time to do the same thing.

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.

It takes more courage to send men into battle than to fight the battle yourself.

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.

I was taught to think about mission and people. Mission. What are you trying to accomplish? Don't do anything until you know what the mission is. Drilled into our hearts and into our heads.