Below are my top 15 leadership quotes for the month of July. Which quote inspires you the most? What quote would you add to the list?
15. "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."--Abraham Lincoln
14. "To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart." --Eleanor Roosevelt
13. "Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths." --John Zenger
12. "Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not 'making friends and influencing people,' that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations." --Peter F. Drucker
11. "A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so that they can get on with their jobs." --Robert Townsend
10. "Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand." --Colin Powell
9. "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." --John F. Kennedy
8. "Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." --Jack Welch
7. "Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems." --Brian Tracy
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. "One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency." --Arnold Glasow
4. "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." --Douglas MacArthur
3. "Every time you have to speak, you are auditioning for leadership." --James Humes
2. "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
And because of the extreme healthcare (COVID-19), economic (rising unemployment), and social (racism & classism) challenges we are currently facing in the United States...
1. "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
I look forward to reading your comments and hearing about your favorite leadership or success quotes.
Please contact us today for a free leadership consultation. We endeavor to positively transform the world by developing exceptional & ethical leaders. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Apogee uses leadership and personal development curriculum and case studies to 1) strengthen the pipeline of leaders, 2) develop transformational leaders who can embrace and lead change effectively, and 3) help make diversity and inclusion a strategic competitive advantage. Find out more at apogeeleader.com/development.
That's it for now. Until the next tip...