Leadership Quotes

"Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It's about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others; success, and then standing back and letting them shine."

- Chad Hadfield

"We need fresh, new leadership with bold ideas and a new approach."

- Scott Hall

"If you cannot allow people to do their jobs … nobody with substance and creativity will work for you."

- Condoleezza Rice

"When you put together deep knowledge about a subject that intensely matters to you, charisma happens. You gain courage to share your passion, and when you do that, folks follow."

- Jerry Porras

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

- Harold Geneen

"Be a leader. A setter should be high energy. It's important that you learn how to give positive, constructive criticism. It's crucial that you make your teammates feel comfortable. You should never be the most silent player in the gym."

- Lindsey Berg

"I do not think about coaching as being the boss. Rather, I am here to see how all the parts fit together. I am in the middle of this storm, and that is where the calm is supposed to be."

- Mark Pavlik

"I have the philosophy that the team is going to win or lose the match. I tend to be more demanding in practice where the work gets done. During the matches, I like to help the team use what they have been trained to use."

- Mark Pavlik

"A coach should take the athletes to their limits, should go beyond the comfort zone… If you are concerned about being friends with the players, you are not going anywhere."

- Doug Beal

"If you're not a leader on the bench, don't call yourself a leader on the field. You're either a leader everywhere or nowhere."

- Abby Wambach

"Being a leader for me is about having the courage to speak the truth, and live the truth, despite attempts to silence our thoughts, feelings, and past experiences."

- Zainab Salbi

"Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better."

- Harry Truman

"If you don't have the courage to walk, alone others will not have the courage to walk with you."

- Apoorve Dubey

"Of all the things I've done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal."

- Walt Disney

"A leader is someone who brings people together."

- George W. Bush

"See the good in people and help them."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"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 Bennis

"The best way to lead people into the future is to connect with them deeply in the present."

- James M. Kouzes and Barry Posner

"Leaders who don't listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say."

- Andy Stanley

"Courage is essential to leadership."

- Andy Stanley

"If there is ever a time crying out for courageous leadership, it's now."

- Bill Hybels

"True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed… Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection."

- Sheryl Sandberg

"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

"Power isn't control at all–power is strength, and giving that strength to others. A leader isn't someone who forces others to make him stronger; a leader is someone willing to give his strength to others that they may have the strength to stand on their own."

- Beth Revis

"Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better."

- Bill Bradley

"There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust."

- Klaus Balkenhol

"The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people."

- Woodrow Wilson

"We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details."

- Jeff Bezos

"A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Your job as a leaders is to stay as close in touch as possible with those closest to the action."

- Kat Cole