“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States.
A leader’s job is to get others to go along with him in the promotion of something. To do this, he needs their goodwill. To destroy goodwill, it is only necessary to criticize publicly. This creates in the criticized one a subconscious desire to “get even.” Such effects can last for a very long period. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States.
To do a job effectively, one must set priorities. Too many people let their “in” basket set priorities. On any given day, unimportant but interesting trivia pass through an office; one must not permit these to monopolize his time. The human tendency is to while away time with unimportant matters that do not require mental effort or energy. Since they can be easily resolved, they give a false sense of accomplishment. The manager must exert self-discipline to ensure that his energy is focused where it is truly needed. Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, “Father of the Nuclear Navy” (view documentary)
Don’t believe your own press clippings – you have to realize that just because you have done one or two things well, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll necessarily be a success in the future, or in other areas. You have to continue to have a high degree of discipline, to assess risks carefully, to stay with your strengths. I think some of the best decisions that I ever made at Federal Express were the decisions that were negative – the things that we didn’t do. Fred Smith, Founder of Federal Express
I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they’ve been. Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart
The leader’s unending responsibility must be to remove every detour, every barrier to ensure that vision is first clear and then real. The leader must create an atmosphere in the organization where people feel not only free to, but obliged to, demand clarity and purpose from their leaders. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric
I’ve come to believe that a leader is anyone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. Brene Brown
“Not the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.” Chinese Proverb
In general, people will follow a leader to whatever attainment his leadership will take them. Failure to attain a given standard or objective, as a rule, lies with the leader and not with the people. A leader who accuses or blames his followers throws away his leadership and has negatively determined failure. The true leader will himself assume responsibility for failure and will realize that he is in a position to confirm and to continue favorable conditions or to change and correct unfavorable ones. It follows that the real leader will not be complacent in the face of failure and will know that the possibility of correcting conditions lies within himself. People themselves are not really happy under these conditions. Sometimes a leader philosophizes that human nature will be human nature and that nothing else can be expected, but it is the leader’s business to change human nature. That is what the mission and all its regulations are for and that is what is being done constantly under good leadership. George Q. Morris