Top 93 Leadership Quotes

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Great leaders are able to inspire those around them. With that in mind, check out the top 93 leadership quotes.

#93 – 90. Leadership Quotes

93. I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples. Mother Teresa

92. A boss has the title, a leader has the people. Simon Sinek

91. “An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” – Jack Welch

90. Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Warren Bennis

#89 – 80. Leadership Quotes

89. Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence. Sheryl Sandberg

88. Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led. Warren Bennis

87. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. Steve Jobs

86. “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

85. Anyone, anywhere, can make a positive difference. Mark Sanborn

84. “Knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks

83. “You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” – Ken Kesey

82. “Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton

81. Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work. Seth Godin

80. Leadership is an action, not a position. Donald McGannon

#79 – 70. Leadership Quotes

79. “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates

78. “To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn’t know where he is going.” – Joe Namath

77. “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” – Mahatma Gandhi

76. As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. Bill Gates

75. “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” – Rosalynn Carter

74. Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing. Peter F. Drucker

73. “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.”– Woodrow Wilson

72. “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” —Thomas Jefferson

71. “To have long term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way.” – Pat Riley

70. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett

#69 – 60. Leadership Quotes

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

68. Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. John C. Maxwell

67. “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” – Chuck Swindoll

66. Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult. Warren Bennis

65. “You don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader.” – Henry Ford

64. “Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.” – Dianne Feinstein

63. “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” – Ronald Reagan

62. Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better. Bill Bradley

61. “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” – Malala Yousafzai

60. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” – Michael Jordan

#59 – 50. Leadership Quotes

59. Lead from the back and let others believe they are in front. Nelson Mandela

58. “Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” – Publilius Syrus

57. If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader. Dolly Parton

56. We need to think of the future and the planet we are going to leave to our children and their children. Kofi Annan

55. A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind. Nelson Mandela

54. “To lead people, walk behind them.” – Lao Tzu

53. “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

52. “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” – Alexander the Great

51. “True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed… Leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.” – Sheryl Sandberg

50. “It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.” – Madeleine Albright

#49 – 40. Leadership Quotes

49. “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” – J.K. Rowling

48. “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” – Winston Churchill

47. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

46. “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

45. “Each group and each youngster is different. As a leader or coach, you get to know what they need.” – Mike Krzyzewski

44. “What you do has far greater impact than what you say.” – Stephen Covey

43. “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John Fitzgerald Kennedy

42. Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flow charts. It is about one life influencing another. John C. Maxwell

41. “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa

40. “The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” ― Henry Kissinger

#39 – 30. Leadership Quotes

39. “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

38. “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – President Abraham Lincoln

37. Leading people is the most challenging and, therefore, the most gratifying undertaking of all human endeavors. Jocko Willink

36. “If ‘leadership’ has come to be known as something much bigger than us, aligned to changing the world, then we are spending way too much time celebrating things that hardly anyone can do and not celebrating things we can do every day.”- Drew Dudley

35. Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things. Peter F. Drucker

34. A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be. Rosalynn Carter

33. The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones. Brandon Sanderson

32. Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision. Peter F. Drucker

31. “One of the most important things for any leader is to never let anyone else define who you are. And you define who you are. I never think of myself as being a woman CEO of this company. I think of myself as a steward of a great institution.” – Ginni Rometty

30. “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Adams

#29 – 20. Leadership Quotes

29. The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward

28. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi

27. “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” – Dale Carnegie

26. “Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.”- Reed Markham

25. Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it. Tina Fey

24. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” – Peter F. Drucker

23. “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.”- Norman Schwarzkopf

22. A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. Martin Luther King Jr

21. In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders. Sheryl Sandberg

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

#19 – 10. Leadership Quotes

19. “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.” – Gen. Colin Powell

18. “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.” – Andrew Carnegie

17. “If you don’t believe in yourself, why is anyone else going to believe in you.” – Tom Brady

16. Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. George Patton

15. “A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example.” – Joe DiMaggio

14. The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow. Seth Godin

13. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

12. “Leadership is something you earn, something you’re chosen for. You can’t come in yelling, ‘I’m your leader!’ If it happens, it’s because the other guys respect you.” – Ben Roethlisberger

11. “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground”. – Theodore Roosevelt

10. I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. Stephen R. Covey

#9 – 1. Leadership Quotes

9. You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out. Steve Jobs

8. “The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” -Theodore Roosevelt

7. You don’t need a title to be a leader. Mark Sanborn

6. “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody.” – Herbert Swope

5. “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 Truman

4. “A leader is a dealer in hope.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

3. “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak, be bold, but not bully, be thoughtful, but not lazy, be humble, but not timid, be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” – Jim Rohn

2. Leadership is like third grade: it means repeating the significant things. Max De Pree

1.“Don’t find fault, find a remedy.”- Henry Ford

Ideas for the top 93 leadership quotes were taken from the following sources.^[1]Wisdom Quotes – 620 LEADERSHIP QUOTE THAT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL UNSTOPPABLE^[2]Forbes –  16 Leadership Quote To Inspire You To Greatness^[3]workzone – 72 Amazing Leadership Quotes That Will Inspire You To Be Great