The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and will to carry on. Walter Lippmann
Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing. Mary D. Poole
Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. George Washington
With all the power that a president has, the most important thing to bear in mind is this: You must not give power to a man unless, above everything else, he has character. Character is the most important qualification the president of the United States can have. Richard Nixon
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him….But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, “We did it ourselves. Lao Tzu
All leaders must face some crisis where their own strength of character is the enemy. Richard Reeves
A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless. Charles de Gaulle
Leadership is not magnetic personality that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not “making friends and influencing people”—that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. Peter F. Drucker
Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them. They make the impossible happen. Dr. Robert Jarvik
The main characteristics of effective leadership are intelligence, integrity or loyalty, mystique, humor, discipline, courage, self sufficieny and confidence. James L. Fisher
When the leadership is right and the time is right, the people can always be counted upon to follow—to the end and at all costs. Harold J. Seymour
There is a secret pride in every human heart that revolts at tyranny. You may order and drive an individual, but you cannot make him respect you. William Hazlitt
Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve. Tom Landry
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. Vince Lombardi
Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens, people feel centered and that gives their work meaning. Warren Bennis
One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. Arnold Glasow
The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own. Benjamin Disraeli
One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. Elbert Hubbard
Society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases. John Adams
Leadership is the special quality which enables people to stand up and pull the rest of us over the horizon. James L. Fisher
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Muriel Strode
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. Ralph Nader
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt
To work in the world lovingly means that we are defining what we will be for, rather than reacting to what we are against. Christina Baldwin
The best leader brings out the best in those he has stewardship over. J. Richard Clarke
A good leader is not the person who does things right, but the person who finds the right things to do. Anthony T. Dadovano
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. Sam Walton
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. Max DePree
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward
It is very comforting to believe that leaders who do terrible things are, in fact, mad. That way, all we have to do is make sure we don’t put psychotics in high places, and we’ve got the problem solved. Thomas Wolfe.
