The chief executive who knows his strengths and weaknesses as a leader is likely to be far more effective than the one who remains blind to them. He also is on the road to humility -- that priceless attitude of openness to life that can help a manager absorb mistakes, failures, or personal shortcomings.

A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it.

Skill in the art of communication is crucial to a leader's success. He can accomplish nothing unless he can communicate effectively.

If you have fear of those that command you, spare those that obey you.

The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.

Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it.

When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.

There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.

Tell a person they are brave and you help them become so.

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

The man who follows a crowd will never be followed by a crowd.

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

We are reformers in the spring and summer, but in autumn we stand by the old. Reformers in the morning, and conservers at night.

In really good companies, you have to lead. You have to come up with big ideas and express them forcefully. I have always been encouraged -- or sometimes forced -- to confront the very natural fear of being wrong. I was constantly pushed to find out what I really thought and then to speak up. Over time, I came to see that waiting to discover which way the wind was blowing is an excellent way to learn how to be a follower.

A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.

There is no necessary connection between the desire to lead and the ability to lead, and even less the ability to lead somewhere that will be to the advantage of the led…

A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group.

There are no office hours for leaders.

Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.

The leader seeks to communicate his vision to his followers. He captures their attention with his optimistic intuition of possible solutions to their needs. He influences them by the dynamism of his faith. He demonstrates confidence that the challenge can be met, the need resolved, the crisis overcome.

Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.

Ethics must begin at the top of an organization. It is a leadership issue and the chief executive must set the example.

There is great force hidden in a gentle command.

In the great mass of our people there are plenty individuals of intelligence from among whom leadership can be recruited.

Leaders create an environment which everyone has the opportunity to do work which matches his potential capability and for which an equitable differential reward is provided.

Morale is faith in the man at the top.

The highest of distinctions is service to others.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

If I advance, follow me! If I retreat, kill me! If I die, avenge me!

I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.

The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, We did it ourselves.

I'm their leader, I've got to follow them.

Public sentiment is everything, without it nothing can fail, without it nothing can succeed.

There is no such thing as a perfect leader either in the past or present, in China or elsewhere. If there is one, he is only pretending, like a pig inserting scallions into its nose in an effort to look like an elephant.

Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Leadership is the other side of the coin of loneliness, and he who is a leader must always act alone. And acting alone, accept everything alone.

The golden rule for every business man is this: "Put yourself in your customer's place."

That perfect bliss and sole felicity, the sweet fruition of an earthly crown.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.

A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

The real leader has no need to lead -- he is content to point the way.

A crown, golden in show is but a wreath of thorns.

Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.

Show me the leader and I will know his men. Show me the men and I will know their leader.

Leadership must be established from the top down.

Leadership appears to be the art of getting others to want to do something you are convinced should be done.

You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think.

The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are. They are frank in admitting this and are willing to pay for such talents.

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

The person who has no enemies has no followers.

It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope.

An army of deer would be more formidable commanded by a lion, than a an army of lions commanded by a stag.

When a blind man bears the standard, pity those who follow.

Those that rule must hear and be deaf, must see and be blind.

The penalty of leadership is loneliness.

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.

Perhaps in His wisdom the Almighty is trying to show us that a leader may chart the way, may point out the road to lasting peace, but that many leaders and many peoples must do the building.

It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead -- and find no one there.

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist. They turn to each other and say We did it ourselves.

Great leaders understand human behavior rather than the cybernetics of any function.

When placed in command -- take charge.

The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says "I"; The leader says "WE". The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says, "GO"; the leader says lets, "GO!"

To be omnipotent but friendless is to reign.

It is a great pity when the one who should be the head figure is a mere figure head.

The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.

No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.

Certainly a leader needs a clear vision of the organization and where it is going, but a vision is of little value unless it is shared in a way so as to generate enthusiasm and commitment. Leadership and communication are inseparable.

Leadership is the activity of influencing people to cooperate towards some goal which they come to find desirable and which motivates them over the long haul.

Leadership is not a position. You are not a leader because you have the title of manager. Leadership is something that we earn from followers on a day to day basis.

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

Efficiency tends to deal with Things. Effectiveness tends to deal with People. We manage things, we lead people

Outstanding leaders appeal to the hearts of their followers -- not their minds.

The best leader is the one who has the sense to surround himself with outstanding people and self-restraint not to meddle with how they do their jobs.

Leadership is a serving relationship that has the effect of facilitating human development.

Education is the mother of leadership.

It is very comforting to believe that leaders who do terrible things are, in fact, mad. That way, all we have to do is make sure we don't put psychotics in high places and we've got the problem solved.