Top 122 Leadership Quotes

A hand-organized collection of 122 leadership quotes from notable authors and thinkers. Browse the full set, find the lines that resonate, and turn any quote into a shareable image.

Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.
Tom Peters
Tom Peters
Also featured in: inspiration

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Leadership is an action, not a position
Donald McGannon
Donald McGannon
Also featured in: motivation

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A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.
Unknown
Unknown
Also featured in: motivation mindset courage change

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Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.
Warren G. Bennis
Warren G. Bennis
Also featured in: inspiration

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Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar.
Orrin Woodward
Orrin Woodward
Also featured in: inspiration

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The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.
Lee Iacocca
Lee Iacocca
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A team is a reflection of its leader.
Sunday Adelaja
Sunday Adelaja
Also featured in: wisdom

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Anything that's human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.
Unknown
Unknown
Also featured in: friendship change

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I find a duck's opinion of me is very much influenced by whether or not I have bread.
Mitch Hedberg
Mitch Hedberg
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Leadership is not a position or a title, it is action and example.
Cory Booker
Cory Booker
Also featured in: motivation

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There is no power or authority without responsibility, and he who accepts the one cannot escape or evade the other.
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie
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People leave managers, not companies.
Marcus Buckingham
Marcus Buckingham
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Be the most ethical, the most responsible, the most authentic you can be with every breath you take, because you are cutting a path into tomorrow that others will follow.
Mark Miller
Mark Miller
Also featured in: time

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Control leads to compliance: autonomy leads to engagement.
Daniel H. Pink
Daniel H. Pink
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Responsibility equals accountability equals ownership. And a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon a team or organization can have.
Pat Summitt
Pat Summitt
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Achieving gender equality requires the engagement of women and men, girls and boys. It is everyone's responsibility.
Ban Ki-Moon
Ban Ki-Moon
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Weak people never admit that they are responsible for their own state. They always blame either circumstances or others.
Amish Tripathi
Amish Tripathi
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Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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You alone are responsible for what you do, don't do, or how you respond to what's done to you.
Darren Hardy
Darren Hardy
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Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet.
Henry Mintzberg
Henry Mintzberg
Also featured in: work

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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.
Roselynn Carter
Roselynn Carter
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The majority of short term trading results are just random. In the long term the money ends up with those that can trade and manage risk.
Steve Burns
Steve Burns
Also featured in: wealth

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Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership.
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu
Also featured in: time mindfulness

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Good leaders must first become good servants.
Robert K. Greenleaf
Robert K. Greenleaf
Also featured in: change

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The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.
Max De Pree
Max De Pree
Also featured in: gratitude

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Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
Mark Twain
Mark Twain
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Character matters; leadership descends from character.
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Also featured in: mindset

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Management is the art of getting things done through people.
Mary Parker Follett
Mary Parker Follett
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Exercising adaptive leadership is about giving meaning to your life beyond your own ambition.
Ronald A. Heifetz
Ronald A. Heifetz
Also featured in: motivation life

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A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
Henry Adams
Henry Adams
Also featured in: time

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You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up in.
Eliezer Yudkowsky
Eliezer Yudkowsky
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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.
Dave Batista
Dave Batista
Also featured in: wisdom friendship

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Identical information can lead to opposite conclusions based on relative perceptions of its receivers.
Nawed Abdiasis
Nawed Abdiasis
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A person who is quietly confident makes the best leader.
Fred Wilson
Fred Wilson
Also featured in: success

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Leadership is not about popularity, it is about doing what is right.
Laura Bush
Laura Bush
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Nobody is perfect but a team can be.
Meredith Belbin
Meredith Belbin
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Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter F. Drucker
Peter F. Drucker
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People imitate their leader. Lead by example.
Barbara Corcoran
Barbara Corcoran
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Leaders create culture. Culture drives behavior. Behavior produces results.
Urban Meyer
Urban Meyer
Also featured in: motivation inspiration

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In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve.
Joseph de Maistre
Joseph de Maistre
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You can change your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, never can you change your favourite football team.
Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona
Also featured in: change

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With freedom comes responsibility.
Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura
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Communication is the real work of leadership.
Nitin Nohria
Nitin Nohria
Also featured in: work

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If you take out the team in teamwork, it's just work. Now who wants that?
Matthew Woodring Stover
Matthew Woodring Stover
Also featured in: time work

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Effective leadership begins with effective communication
Ann Don Brown
Ann Don Brown
Also featured in: motivation

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Influence is about being genuine.
Johnny Hunt
Johnny Hunt
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True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves but about lifting others up.
Pat L. Dani
Pat L. Dani
Also featured in: wisdom

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The true mark of a Christian leader is trying to build up other people. Raise up other leaders!
Charles Colson
Charles Colson
Also featured in: motivation

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