Leadership Quotes

"Leaders are made more often than they are born. You all have leadership in you. Develop it by thought training and by practice."

- Field Marshal Sir Bill Slim

"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."

- General Colin Powell

"We have all seen the officer who, by working very hard, produces an excellent performance but on promotion fails to maintain his promise. He reached that rank because he was clever enough not to need to delegate. He failed because he did not have the sense or character to know that he should."

- Major General Rupert Smith

"Leadership in war is an art, a free creative activity based on a foundation of knowledge. The greatest demands are made on the personality."

- Generals Werner von Fritsch and Ludwig Beck

"War is much too brutal a business to have room for brutal leading; in the end, its only effect can be to corrode the character of men and when character is lost, all is lost. The bully and the sadist serve only to further encumber an army; their subordinates must waste precious time clearing away the wreckage they make."

- Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall

"I agree with Emerson when he said, “Trust men and they will be true to you. Treat them greatly and they will show themselves to be great.” Its jolly easy to say that and its jolly easy to think that all you’ve got to do is give an order and, we go out and they get on with it. Well, it’s not so, because to do that, you’ve got to train with them, you’ve got to get to know one another, you’ve got to give of your best, and set the standards. Then you can trust them and they will trust you. You treat men greatly by briefing them properly or working with them or bringing them along in the right lines. Now that, I firmly believe, should be the approach of soldiers and leaders throughout all armies and all services."

- WO1 J C Lord, RSM 3 PARA and AcSM RMAS

"Many of the military forms which look so unnecessary or even absurd, the worship of regimental totems, the eccentricities of dress and custom, the cultivation of a separate identity for the group – these have been developed and are still dedicated precisely to the creation and maintenance of that coherence on which the effective performance of a group under pressure depends. The leader must realise this."

- General Sir John Hackett

"What you permit, you promote."

- Professor Aidan Halligan

"…we British instinctively avoid displays of keenness. The enthusiast, particularly if he is innovative, is an embarrassment. Thus the battlefield became our teacher and, inevitably, it exacted a grim price in blood and time."

- Sydney Jary MC

"Imagine a situation where some of those who you anticipate will perform well go to pieces. On the ground you discover your maps are not accurate. Your supporting armour is delayed for reasons unknown to you. The opposition’s fire power is far greater than you anticipated. General chaos exists. If your school and university record has been one of unparalleled success, giving you no experience of failure, you will find yourself at a disadvantage. ‘If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same’. Never have Rudyard Kipling’s words been more appropriate."

- Sydney Jary MC

"Successful leadership in battle, although complex and intangible, always seemed to me to depend on two factors. Firstly, soldiers must have confidence in their leaders’ professional ability and, secondly, they must trust them as men. It helps, too, if a leader has the reputation of being lucky."

- Sydney Jary MC

"The quality of leadership needs, above all, spirit, intelligence and sympathy. Spirit is needed to fire men to self-sacrificing achievements; intelligence, because men will only respect and follow a leader whom they feel knows his profession thoroughly; sympathy, to understand the mentality of each individual in order to draw out the best that is in him. Given these qualities, men will conquer fear to follow a leader."

- Basil Liddell Hart

"A successful leader of men must have character, ability and be prepared to take unlimited responsibility. Responsibility can only be learned by taking responsibility; you cannot learn the piano without playing on one. Leadership is the practical application of character. It implies the ability to command and to make obedience proud and free."

- Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen

"A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit."

- Arnold H. Glasgow

"To spend a few minutes with people is simply not productive. If one wants to get anything across, one has to spend a fairly large minimum quantum of time. The manager who things that he can discuss the plans, direction, and performance of one of his subordinates in fifteen minutes – and many managers believe this – is just deceiving himself. If one wants to get to the point of having an impact, one needs probably at least an hour and usually more. And if one has to establish a human relationship, one needs infinitely more time."

- Peter F. Drucker

"Get mad, then get over it."

- General Colin Powell

"Be careful what you choose. You may get it."

- General Colin Powell

"You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours."

- General Colin Powell

"Check small things."

- General Colin Powell

"Share credit."

- General Colin Powell

"Remain calm. Be kind."

- General Colin Powell

"Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers."

- General Colin Powell

"That synchronized cycle — what we called our “battle rhythm” — was fueled by the O&I, which pumped information and context throughout our Task Force."

- General (Retired) McChrystal

"Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best"

- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

"leader leads by example, not by force."

- Sun Tzu

"The ability to read, write, and analyze; the confidence to stand up and demand justice and equality; the qualifications and connections to get your foot in the door and take your seat at the table — all of that starts with education."

- Michelle Obama

"The people – the people – are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts – not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it."

- Abraham Lincoln

"When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a “drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.”"

- Abraham Lincoln

"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed."

- Abraham Lincoln

"When placed in command, take charge."

- Norman Schwarzkopf