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Top Inspirational leadership quotes

If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.

— Henry Ford

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

— Nelson Mandela

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

— Lao Tzu

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.

— Colin Powell

Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked leadership is defined by results not attributes.

— Peter Drucker

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles but today it means getting along with people.

— Mahatma Gandhi

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.

— Steve Jobs

Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.

— W. Clement Stone

Don’t find fault, find a remedy.

— Henry Ford

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

— Steve Jobs

When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’

— Lao Tzu

Management is doing things right leadership is doing the right things.

— Peter Drucker

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

— John D. Rockefeller

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

— Max Lucado

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

— John Quincy Adams

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.

— Jim Rohn

Leadership – leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses.

— Mitt Romney

A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.

— J. P. Morgan

The cautious seldom err.

— Confucius

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

— Stephen Covey

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

— John C. Maxwell

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.

— Jim Rohn

A leader is a dealer in hope.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.

— Thomas Sowell

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

— John D. Rockefeller

He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.

— Sun Tzu

Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.

— Harold S. Geneen

If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.

— William James

Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention.

— Deepak Chopra

A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.

— Arnold H. Glasow

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

— John C. Maxwell

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.

— Andrew Carnegie

Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.

— Harold S. Geneen

Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.

— Paul Hawken

To succeed in business it is necessary to make others see things as you see them.

— Aristotle Onassis

You have to think anyway, so why not think big?

— Donald Trump

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

Example is leadership.

— Albert Schweitzer

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

— Henry A. Kissinger

People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.

— Peter Drucker

If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it.

— William James

If you command wisely, you’ll be obeyed cheerfully.

— Thomas Fuller

High expectations are the key to everything.

— Sam Walton

If a window of opportunity appears, don’t pull down the shade.

— Tom Peters

Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.

— Bill Bradley

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily.

— Thomas Szasz

Leadership is influence.

— John C. Maxwell

Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It’s being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way you’re going to get respect from the players.

— Larry Bird

No matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto.

— W. Clement Stone

How we think shows through in how we act. Attitudes are mirrors of the mind. They reflect thinking.

— David Joseph Schwartz

Go as far as you can see when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.

— J. P. Morgan

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

— Henry A. Kissinger

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.

— Warren G. Bennis

The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.

— Tony Blair

Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.

— Peter Drucker

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.

— John C. Maxwell

The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way.

— Henry Miller

Without initiative, leaders are simply workers in leadership positions.

— Bo Bennett

There are three secrets to managing. The first secret is have patience. The second is be patient. And the third most important secret is patience.

— Chuck Tanner

No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.

— Andrew Carnegie

Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.

— Ray Kroc

Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference.

— Nolan Bushnell

The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.

— Ray Kroc

It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.

— Henry A. Kissinger

Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.

— Tom Peters

In fair weather prepare for foul.

— Thomas Fuller

The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.

— Andrew Carnegie

Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority.

— Tom Hopkins

When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.

— Roy E. Disney

The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.

— Casey Stengel

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.

— Bernard Baruch

The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act.

— Barbara Sher

The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyone has a small part of himself in both.

— Vaclav Havel

The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang.

— Mary Kay Ash

The secret of my success is a two word answer: Know people.

— Harvey S. Firestone

Doing is a quantum leap from imagining.

— Barbara Sher

Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things.

— Jesse Jackson

Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.

— Warren G. Bennis

Clarity affords focus.

— Thomas Leonard

I’m not a natural leader. I’m too intellectual I’m too abstract I think too much.

— Newt Gingrich

The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.

— J. Paul Getty

Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal.

— E. Joseph Cossman

If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn’t any limit to what you can do with your business and your life. Ideas are any man’s greatest asset.

— Harvey S. Firestone

I look for what needs to be done. After all, that’s how the universe designs itself.

— R. Buckminster Fuller

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.

— Margaret Fuller

Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.

— David Joseph Schwartz

My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never.

— Duke Ellington

Leaders grasp nettles.

— David Ogilvy

You’re only as good as the people you hire.

— Ray Kroc

It is rare to find a business partner who is selfless. If you are lucky it happens once in a lifetime.

— Michael Eisner

The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.

— Charles de Gaulle

Get the best people and train them well.

— Scott McNealy

Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves.

— E. Joseph Cossman

Every silver lining has a cloud.

— Mary Kay Ash

Good enough never is.

— Debbi Fields

Great companies in the way they work, start with great leaders.

— Steve Ballmer

Strong convictions precede great actions.

— James Freeman Clarke

To succeed, one must be creative and persistent.

— John H. Johnson

What helps people, helps business.

— Leo Burnett

Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.

— Henry J. Kaiser

You have to have your heart in the business and the business in your heart.

— An Wang

You have no power at all if you do not exercise constant power.

— Major Owens

Whatever ought to be, can be.

— James Rouse

The very exercise of leadership fosters capacity for it.

— Cyril Falls

The nicest thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from.

— Ken Olsen

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.

— Jim Rohn

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I, therefore, intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt.

— Barack Obama

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

— John F. Kennedy

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.

— Barack Obama

But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance.

— William Julius Wilson

You learn far more from negative leadership than from positive leadership. Because you learn how not to do it. And, therefore, you learn how to do it.

— Norman Schwarzkopf

Educationists should build the capacities of the spirit of inquiry, creativity, entrepreneurial and moral leadership among students and become their role model.

— Abdul Kalam

Leadership is a privilege to better the lives of others. It is not an opportunity to satisfy personal greed.

— Mwai Kibaki

You don’t lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.

— Harry S. Truman

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

— Norman Schwarzkopf

No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.

— Peter Drucker

Leadership is the other side of the coin of loneliness, and he who is a leader must always act alone. And acting alone, accept everything alone.

— Ferdinand Marcos

In giving us children, God places us in a position of both leadership and service. He calls us to give up our lives for someone else’s sake – to abandon our own desires and put our child’s interests first. Yet, according to His perfect design, it is through this selflessness that we can become truly fulfilled.

— Charles Stanley

God will never direct us to be prideful, arrogant and unforgiving, immoral or slothful or full of fear. We step into these things because we are insensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit within us.

— Charles Stanley

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

— Stephen Covey

My leadership will end the Obama era and begin a new era of American prosperity.

— Mitt Romney

Central to America’s rise to global leadership is our Judeo-Christian tradition with the vision of the goodness and possibilities of every human life.

— Mitt Romney

Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you’re in control, they’re in control.

— Tom Landry

Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.

— George W. Bush

A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.

— Chinua Achebe

The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.

— Harvey S. Firestone

Leadership in today’s world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.

— Hubert H. Humphrey

Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you’re ready to play as tough as you’re able to, you’d better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you’re not giving it all you’ve got.

— Larry Bird

I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together.

— George W. Bush

Black leadership has to recognize that principles more than speech, character more than a claim, is greater in advancing the cause of our liberation than what has transpired thus far.

— Louis Farrakhan

Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.

— J. Donald Walters

Half a century ago, the amazing courage of Rosa Parks, the visionary leadership of Martin Luther King, and the inspirational actions of the civil rights movement led politicians to write equality into the law and make real the promise of America for all her citizens.

— David Cameron

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

— John Kenneth Galbraith

Leadership can not be measured in a poll or even in the result of an election. It can only be truly seen with the benefit of time. From the perspective of 20 years, not 20 days.

— Marco Rubio

The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

— Ralph Nader

The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better.

— Tony Dungy

I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

— Ralph Nader

Millions of young Americans have graduated from college during the Obama presidency, ready to use their gifts and get moving in life. Half of them can’t find the work they studied for, or any work at all. So here’s the question: Without a change in leadership, why would the next four years be any different from the last four years?

— Paul Ryan

Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint.

— Lewis H. Lapham

Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.

— Tom Landry

I speak directly to the people, and I know that the people of California want to have better leadership. They want to have great leadership. They want to have somebody that will represent them. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, young or old.

— Arnold Schwarzenegger

I think we need the feminine qualities of leadership, which include attention to aesthetics and the environment, nurturing, affection, intuition and the qualities that make people feel safe and cared for.

— Deepak Chopra

This assumption of Negro leadership in the ghetto, then, must not be confined to matters of religion, education, and social uplift it must deal with such fundamental forces in life as make these things possible.

— Carter G. Woodson

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

— Arnold H. Glasow

We live in a society obsessed with public opinion. But leadership has never been about popularity.

— Marco Rubio

I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.

— Lee Iacocca

To have long term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way.

— Pat Riley

Leadership has a harder job to do than just choose sides. It must bring sides together.

— Jesse Jackson

Character matters leadership descends from character.

— Rush Limbaugh

I’m sad to report that in the past few years, ever since uncertainty became our insistent 21st century companion, leadership has taken a great leap backwards to the familiar territory of command and control.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

In our system leadership is by consent, not command. To lead a President must persuade. Personal contacts and experiences help shape his thinking. They can be critical to his persuasiveness and thus to his leadership.

— Donald Rumsfeld

The secret to understanding me is, I’m not trying to be anybody other than who I actually am. People want candid, refreshing leadership. And I’ve always tried to go with solutions. You know, I’ve always tried to say, here’s how we get our economy growing, here’s why we get our debt under control. That’s what Mitt Romney is offering.

— Paul Ryan

What’s missing is leadership in the White House. And the story that Barack Obama does tell, forever shifting blame to the last administration, is getting old. The man assumed office almost four years ago – isn’t it about time he assumed responsibility?

— Paul Ryan

My philosophy of leadership is to surround myself with good people who have ability, judgment and knowledge, but above all, a passion for service.

— Sonny Perdue

The biggest difference is in the leadership. It was better for us. We had more coaches and mentors to help us. A lot of the younger players today suffer from a lack of direction.

— Isaiah Thomas

Don’t necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.

— Donald Rumsfeld

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.

— Ken Blanchard

Charlatanism of some degree is indispensable to effective leadership.

— Eric Hoffer

There’s a void of leadership in a lot of Washington. I think one of the reasons why there’s so much angst across the country.

— Rush Limbaugh

Absolute identity with one’s cause is the first and great condition of successful leadership.

— Woodrow Wilson

Honor bespeaks worth. Confidence begets trust. Service brings satisfaction. Cooperation proves the quality of leadership.

— James Cash Penney

Presidential leadership needn’t always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.

— Donald Rumsfeld

Military school was great and especially great for leadership and then I spent two years in Vietnam.

— Robert Kiyosaki

So here’s the question: Without a change in leadership, why would the next four years be any different from the last four years?

— Paul Ryan

Well football teams are perhaps easier to control than political parties, I’m sure the Prime Minister would agree with me, but yeah I think every team needs discipline and a sense of self-belief and that’s important, that’s what leadership’s all about.

— Iain Duncan Smith

Humility is a great quality of leadership which derives respect and not just fear or hatred.

— Yousef Munayyer

What we heard today was not fiscal leadership from our Commander-in-Chief, what we heard today was a political broadside from our Campaigner-in-Chief.

— Paul Ryan

We need leadership. We don’t need a doubling down on the failed politics of the past.

— Paul Ryan

Hope and change? We’re not doing that anymore. They’re doing attack and blame. And so, I just think people are going to see through this. They want real leadership. They want us to get this country on the right track.

— Paul Ryan

A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world.

— John Updike

Leadership can’t be fabricated. If it is fabricated and rehearsed, you can’t fool the guys in the locker room. So when you talk about leadership, it comes with performance. Leadership comes with consistency.

— Junior Seau

If you don’t understand that you work for your mislabeled ‘subordinates,’ then you know nothing of leadership. You know only tyranny.

— Dee Hock

Ever since Israel has been a nation the United States has provided the leadership. Every president down to the ages has done this in a fairly balanced way, including George Bush senior, Gerald Ford, and others including myself and Bill Clinton.

— Jimmy Carter

Overall, the challenge of leadership is both moral and one of developing the characteristics that make us respected by one another.

— Louis Farrakhan

The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.

— John Buchan

In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity.

— Sandra Day O’Connor

They said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics, to take on public-sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefits system that was headed to bankruptcy. But with bipartisan leadership, we saved taxpayers $132 billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their pensions. We did it.

— Chris Christie

But I do not believe that the world would be entirely different if there were more women leaders. Maybe if everybody in leadership was a woman, you might not get into the conflicts in the first place. But if you watch the women who have made it to the top, they haven’t exactly been non-aggressive – including me.

— Madeleine Albright

There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.

— Bertolt Brecht

Leadership does not depend on being right.

— Ivan Illich

Maybe if everybody in leadership was a woman, you might not get into the conflicts in the first place. But if you watch the women who have made it to the top, they haven’t exactly been non-aggressive – including me.

— Madeleine Albright

I emphasize self-esteem, self-confidence, and dignity, not as an ideal, but as a real test of community organization. Without leadership development, community organizations do not have staying power.

— Paul Wellstone

Many corporate leaders and employees have the right intentions, but it can be overwhelming when you consider how everything is affected from leadership styles, to organizational structure, to employee engagement, to customer service an marketplace.

— Simon Mainwaring

The one thing that the President can do is to establish a real energy independence plan. We have all the recources we need right here in this country to establish energy independence if we had the leadership.

— Herman Cain

The trouble with the Labour Party leadership and the trade union leadership, they’re quite willing to applaud millions on the streets of the Philippines or in Eastern Europe, without understanding the need to also produce millions of people on the streets of Britain.

— Arthur Scargill

Yes, America must do the right thing, but to provide moral leadership, America must do it in the right way, too.

— David Cameron

To my mind the election was stolen by George Bush and we have been suffering ever since under this man’s leadership.

— Jessica Lange

Nixon was an awful president in many ways, including in some of his foreign-policy choices. But he left no doubt that foreign policy and America’s leadership in the world outside its borders was of paramount importance to him.

— John Podhoretz

Leadership is hard to define and good leadership even harder. But if you can get people to follow you to the ends of the earth, you are a great leader.

— Indra Nooyi

We are watching industries crumble, Wall Street firms disappear, unemployment spike, and unprecedented government intervention. And our designated opinion leaders want to know: Is Obama up this week? Is he down? And is his leadership style more like Bill Clinton’s, or Abraham Lincoln’s?

— Thomas Frank

The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?

— Max de Pree

The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.

— Faye Wattleton

The democratic idealist is prone to make light of the whole question of standards and leadership because of his unbounded faith in the plain people.

— Irving Babbitt

With gridlock the norm, Congress’s approval rating is below 10 percent and the public has lost faith in its national leadership.

— Ron Fournier

Washington’s answer to a self-inflicted financial crisis reminded Americans why they so deeply distrust the political class. The ‘fiscal cliff’ process was secretive and sloppy, and the nation’s so-called leadership lacked the political courage to address our root problems: joblessness and debt.

— Ron Fournier

Leadership comes in small acts as well as bold strokes.

— Carly Fiorina

If a guy is intimidated by a woman in leadership, he has real problems with his own concepts of masculinity. That’s a harsh statement, but I believe it to be true.

— Tony Campolo

I want American Dream growth – lots of new businesses, well-paying jobs, and American leadership in new industries, like clean energy and biotechnology.

— William J. Clinton

The more that social democracy develops, grows, and becomes stronger, the more the enlightened masses of workers will take their own destinies, the leadership of their movement, and the determination of its direction into their own hands.

— Rosa Luxemburg

I am endlessly fascinated that playing football is considered a training ground for leadership, but raising children isn’t. Hey, it made me a better leader: you have to take a lot of people’s needs into account you have to look down the road. Trying to negotiate getting a couple of kids to watch the same TV show requires serious diplomacy.

— Dee Dee Myers

My observation is that women are merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership.

— James Dobson

The Irish Republican Army has kept every commitment made by its leadership.

— Gerry Adams

I believe that the capacity that any organisation needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

I think it is quite dangerous for an organisation to think they can predict where they are going to need leadership. It needs to be something that people are willing to assume if it feels relevant, given the context of any situation.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

I think a major act of leadership right now, call it a radical act, is to create the places and processes so people can actually learn together, using our experiences.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

Most people associate command and control leadership with the military.

— Margaret J. Wheatley

The cardinal responsibility of leadership is to identify the dominant contradiction at each point of the historical process and to work out a central line to resolve it.

— Mao Zedong

It’s really necessary for the United States to continue to give strong leadership to the Middle East peace process, supported by European countries at the same time.

— William Hague

Leadership cannot just go along to get along. Leadership must meet the moral challenge of the day.

— Jesse Jackson

Leadership is intangible, and therefore no weapon ever designed can replace it.

— Omar N. Bradley

I think one of the keys to leadership is recognizing that everybody has gifts and talents. A good leader will learn how to harness those gifts toward the same goal.

— Benjamin Carson

But no nation can base its survival and development on luck and prayers alone while its leadership fritters away every available opportunity for success and concrete achievement.

— Ibrahim Babangida

If America wants to retain its position as a global power, its president must listen to the people and show strong leadership at this turning point in human history.

— David Suzuki

Leadership is, among other things, the ability to inflict pain and get away with it – short-term pain for long-term gain.

— George Will

It’s a tremendous responsibility to be direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad. This family has had the burden of leadership on its shoulders for 1,400 years. I’m not going to drop the ball on my shift.

— King Abdullah II

I think President Obama could have handled politics and policies differently. But he has been decisive, strong, and consistent – important qualities in a president. Mitt Romney is indeed an Etch A Sketch, the antithesis of leadership.

— Eliot Spitzer

I think directors should be confident in their leadership capabilities. I think directors should be confident in what they want to do.

— Philip Seymour Hoffman

It simply cannot be disputed that for decades the Palestinian leadership was more interested in there not being a Jewish state than in there being a Palestinian state.

— Alan Dershowitz

Now, do I think there has to be shared sacrifice among other nations in the world who want a stable and secure world? Absolutely, there has to be. But I don’t think that America can ever abdicate its leadership role in the world because of who we are and where we’ve come from. We are the symbol for the world for freedom and liberty.

— Chris Christie

If anybody ran a business like that they would be out of business quickly, and Barack Obama’s leadership is driving this business, the United States of America, toward a fiscal cliff.

— Chris Christie

I think it is important to ask ourselves as citizens, not as Democrats attacking the administration, but as citizens, whether a world power can really provide global leadership on the basis of fear and anxiety?

— Zbigniew Brzezinski

Leadership is an ever-evolving position.

— Mike Krzyzewski

True leadership lies in guiding others to success. In ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well.

— Bill Owens

If we are to negotiate the coming years safely, we may need a new kind of leadership. To put it more precisely, we need the rediscovery of an ancient kind of leadership that has rarely been given the prominence it deserves. I mean the leader as teacher.

— Jonathan Sacks

Leadership is about being a servant first.

— Allen West

The Dalai Lama. He is a very wise man of great inner peace who believes that happiness is the purpose of our lives. Through his teachings and leadership, he continues to make this world a better place in which to live.

— Sidney Sheldon

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.

— Warren G. Bennis

But the fact is that the vast majority of Republicans support the Sinn Fein leadership.

— Martin McGuinness

Leadership that exploits and sacrifices young people on the altar of its goals is nothing more than raw, demonic power. Genuine leadership is found in ceaseless efforts to foster young people, to pave the way forward for them.

— Daisaku Ikeda

Where there is an absence of international political leadership, civil society should step in to fill the gap, providing the energy and vision needed to move the world in a new and better direction.

— Daisaku Ikeda

The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them.

— Carlos Ghosn

Moreover, as the leadership of the House confirmed last year, the Administration remains opposed to a congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide due to Turkish objections. This approach sends absolutely the wrong signal to Turkey and to the rest of the world.

— Patrick J. Kennedy

Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.

— Dianne Feinstein

We must recognize that as the dominant power in the world we have a special responsibility. In addition to protecting our national interests, we must take the leadership in protecting the common interests of humanity.

— George Soros

One simple way to keep organizations from becoming cancerous might be to rotate all jobs on a regular, frequent and mandatory basis, including the leadership positions.

— Robert Shea

Market leadership can translate directly to higher revenue, higher profitability, greater capital velocity, and correspondingly stronger returns on invested capital.

— Jeff Bezos

France, after the month of May, will share trust with the current leadership of the United States which, on many subjects, has tended to take useful positions in our view.

— Francois Hollande

While Mayor Daley surprised me today with his decision to not run for reelection, I have never been surprised by his leadership, dedication and tireless work on behalf of the city and the people of Chicago.

— Rahm Emanuel

Because of the president’s leadership, every American will have access to affordable, quality health care.

— Rahm Emanuel

Whose leadership, whose judgment, whose values do you want in the White House when that crisis lands like a thud on the Oval Office desk?

— Rahm Emanuel

The person who takes the oath of office in the next four months will shape not just the next four years, but the next forty years of our nation. In these next four years, we need proven leadership, proven judgment and proven values. America needs four more years of President Barack Obama.

— Rahm Emanuel

I have run a general election campaign pregnant and ran Ed Miliband’s leadership campaign commuting to London with a new baby so I already have my system set up.

— Lucy Powell

It’s not a matter of if economies around the world becoming low-carbon, but when and how: through struggle and strife or through advancement and progressive leadership. Larry Elliot described it today as the ‘Green New Deal.’ It’s a leadership we in Britain can provide, and from which our economy can benefit.

— Lucy Powell

Each one of us, and, indeed, all those who aspire to national leadership must bring their own visions, views and styles to the business of reforming Nigeria, and the search for solutions.

— Ibrahim Babangida

We’re going to need to absorb some pain. The Republicans want to pile all the pain on people who can least afford it and the middle class and Democrats under his leadership want to make sure that we can address deficit reduction and continue to make investments and shared sacrifice is going to be imperative in order to be able to do that.

— Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.

— John Naisbitt

You know, rural Americans are a special people. Their labor puts food on our table and fuel in our gas tanks. Their service in our military sets a powerful example of leadership, honor and sacrifice. Their spirit of community inspires us all.

— Tom Vilsack

Let us build a 21st-century rural economy of cutting-edge companies and technologies that lead us to energy and food security. Such an investment will revitalize rural America, re-establish our moral leadership on climate security and eliminate our addiction to foreign oil.

— Tom Vilsack

If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. I have to do so for all the Ikea employees.

— Ingvar Kamprad

Studies have consistently shown that financial hardship is the biggest obstacle to heterosexual marriage, yet the Republican leadership has done precious little to help address the financial hardship faced by American families.

— Kendrick Meek

I think we need leadership that helps us remember that part of what we are about is caring about more than the person right next to us, but the folks across the way.

— Anna Deavere Smith

We needed to go back on the offense and offer clear leadership on Iraq.

— Condoleezza Rice

I talked about the need for American leadership, I talked about the importance of the United States to a more peaceful world, a world that has been quite turbulent in recent years, and needs a strong American anchor.

— Condoleezza Rice

I recognize we will pay more attention when we have different leadership.

— Octavia Butler

Education is the mother of leadership.

— Wendell Willkie

Now, if we look at the way in which the labor movement itself has evolved over the last couple of decades, we see increasing numbers of black people who are in the leadership of the labor movement and this is true today.

— Angela Davis

By providing outstanding economic leadership, this country can wage its attack successfully – and can thereby build the foundations of a peaceful world.

— James Forrestal

It is the responsibility of leadership to provide opportunity, and the responsibility of individuals to contribute.

— William Pollard

I had the closest thing I have ever had to an out-of-body experience lying in bed one morning. I turned on the ‘Today’ programme and item four on the news was: ‘The shadow chancellor has ruled himself out of the leadership.’ I lay there thinking that’s interesting, then I realised it was me.

— George Osborne

To meet the expectations of the majority of our people, and to open up new vistas of economic opportunity so that the aspirations of Nigerians can stand a fair chance of being fulfilled in a lifetime, there must be a truly committed leadership in a democratic Nigeria.

— Ibrahim Babangida

The biggest novelty of 2013 will be new leadership in China. Very little is known about the views of the new leaders – who will rule the country for ten years. But we do know they’re the first generation of Chinese leaders who have spent the majority of their lives in a China ‘opening up’ to the rest of the world.

— David Miliband

The test of leadership for David Cameron was actually to bring the British Conservative Party back in to the mainstream.

— David Miliband

Clearly no one knows what leadership has gone undiscovered in women of all races, and in black and other minority men.

— Gloria Steinem

I’ve developed a huge regard for Toyota for its environmental awareness, for its immense commitment to research and development in this field, and for its leadership in developing hybrids which others are now following.

— Maurice Strong

I think Chinese leadership is trying to tell the world they have another set of logic or reasoning or values which are different from yours. Of course, I don’t think they believe that. It’s just an argument that’s made when you can’t confront the truth and facts. They really want to maintain power.

— Ai Weiwei

There are no ideas in the Republican Party right now in the Congress. They’re the party of no. They desperately need some intellectual leadership. And whatever you think of Newt Gingrich, he can supply intellectual leadership. So I hope he does run.

— Howard Dean

The fact is, when it comes to economic leadership, the Republicans have nothing to brag about. This isn’t what the American people want. They want to see progress that works for them.

— Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Democrats are going to proudly run on the fact that we turned the economy around. It was our policies under President Obama’s leadership through the Recovery Act, through investing in the automobile industry.

— Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the House right now seems to have been strangled by the tea party.

— Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Aren’t we at the point where the closer we get to chaos, the more concern that there should be about coming to the table and compromising with Democrats? This is not leadership. This is almost like dictatorship.

— Debbie Wasserman Schultz

We’ve been sitting at the compromise table for a long time. We’re just waiting for that cold chair to be warmed up by the Republican leadership. They still have time to do the right thing and be responsible. They just seem to be moving further and further away from it.

— Debbie Wasserman Schultz

The art of communication is the language of leadership.

— James Humes

All Americans and freedom-loving people around the world owe President Reagan our deepest gratitude for his strong, principled leadership that ended the Cold War and brought freedom to millions of people.

— Jim Ramstad

Real leadership is leaders recognizing that they serve the people that they lead.

— Pete Hoekstra

China and India will take the global leadership on climate change: they are suffering for it.

— Malcolm Turnbull

President Bush has shown great leadership. He has said that the 21st century will not be ruled or dictated by terrorists, dictators, and murderers. He is absolutely right. God bless him for his resolve.

— Lindsey Graham

President Obama chose politics over leadership. ‘Hope’ and ‘Change’ have become bait-and-switch.

— Lindsey Graham

This is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight, but I think it once again points out how very important style of leadership, that is the way he does what he does, is to his perception.

— Robert Teeter

Research has shown that the perceived style of leadership is by far the most important thing to most voters in evaluating officeholders and candidates.

— Robert Teeter

If you can provide the funding and you get the leadership, you’ll have a competitive team.

— T. Boone Pickens

I urge the Iraqi leadership for sake of its own people… to seize this opportunity and thereby begin to end the isolation and suffering of the Iraqi people.

— Kofi Annan

At that time, the army leadership said the implementation of this agreement would allow everyone, including the IRA, to take its political objectives forward by peaceful and democratic means.

— Gerry Adams

Sinn Fein has demonstrated the ability to play a leadership role as part of a popular movement towards peace, equality and justice.

— Gerry Adams

I know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.

— Queen Elizabeth II

Being a CEO still means sitting across the table from big institutional investors and showing your leadership and having them believe in you.

— Christie Hefner

We in the press, by our power, can actually undermine leadership.

— Christiane Amanpour

You can never stop and as older people, we have to learn how to take leadership from the youth and I guess I would say that this is what I’m attempting to do right now.

— Angela Davis

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.

— Theodore Hesburgh

I wish I had played team sports. I think every kid should. Teamwork builds character – teaches people about leadership and cooperation.

— Mo Rocca

I took a gamble to exercise leadership without losing my feminine nature.

— Michelle Bachelet

As a vibrant force in civil society, women continue to press for their rights, equal participation in decision-making, and the upholding of the principles of the revolution by the highest levels of leadership in Egypt.

— Michelle Bachelet

I believe that in Europe, we have a collective leadership.

— Mario Monti

So I think democracy, in the long-term, in our countries will survive if it comes to be associated with leadership, will not survive if democracy plus media brings to us more and more followship rather than leadership.

— Mario Monti

One secret of leadership is that the mind of a leader never turns off. Leaders even when they are sightseers or spectators, are active not passive observers.

— James Humes

The more consistent a father can be or a mentor can be in the person’s life and teach them principles of real solid manhood, character, integrity and leadership, the more consistent you can be in the person’s life and teach them those things at a younger age, and then the better off they’ll be.

— Allan Houston

If people want to compete for leadership of a religious group, they can compete in piety. A chilling thought. Or funny.

— Mary Douglas

Many of these inspirational leadership quotes are the result of a collection from various sources; such as newspapers, magazines, bible, other speakers, write-ups, seminars, articles and websites and every effort has been made to give credit where it is due for the material contained herein.

Most of these inspirational leadership quotes ’ meanings are straight forward and easy to understand probably due to their simplicity or nature of their authors, and other inspirational leadership quotes sound like parables or proverbs which might be difficult to understand their meanings. When you come across difficult quotes, Please read the quote more than once or repeatedly until you get the meaning.

For some inspirational leadership quotes, you must think deeply and apply wisdom before you can get their meanings. I believe you will learn and apply the lessons contained in some of these inspirational leadership quotes to your daily life because some of these quotes have already influenced many peoples’ decisions and actions

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