Sometimes leaders, whether political or scientific, get so caught up in the momentum of history that they become a part of the machinery, of the history of the world, that they almost lose their agency in the process.
Author: Moshik Temkin | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: History, Leadership, Politics & Public Policy
Now the method of employing men is to use the avaricious and the foolish, the wise and the brave, and to give responsibility to each in situations that suit him. Do not charge people to do what they cannot do. Select them and give them responsibilities commensurate with their abilities.
Author: Sun Tzu | Subjects: Business, Leadership, Life & Society
The best leaders operate in four dimensions: vision, reality, ethics, and courage. These are the four intelligences, the four forms of perceiving, the languages for communicating that are required to achieve meaningful, sustained results.
Author: Peter Koestenbaum | Subject: Leadership
I believe that the central leadership attribute is the ability to manage polarity. In every aspect of life, polarities are inevitable: We want to live, yet we must die. How can I devote myself fully to both family and career? Am I a boss or a friend? A lover or a judge? How do I reconcile my own needs with those of my team? … [ Read more ]
Author: Peter Koestenbaum | Subjects: Leadership, Life & Society, Personal Improvement
Authentic leaders have absorbed the fundamental fact of existence — that you can’t get around life’s inherent contradictions. The leadership mind is spacious. It has ample room for the ambiguities of the world, for conflicting feelings, and for contradictory ideas.
Author: Peter Koestenbaum | Subject: Leadership
Solitude is to genius the stern friend. He who should inspire and lead his race must be defended from traveling with the souls of other men, from living, breathing, reading, and writing in the daily, time-worn yoke of their opinions.
Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson | Subjects: Leadership, Life & Society
Here’s the thing about inspiration: It has to be earned. Someone is inspiring not because they look at you with big eyes and ask you to find it in your heart to believe in their dream. It’s because they actually have a dream that’s worth getting excited about. And those dreams don’t come lightly. They come from blood, sweat, and tears. Inspiration is like love. … [ Read more ]
Author: Chris Anderson | Subjects: Concepts, Creativity and Innovation, Leadership, Life & Society
The character traits which make people scholars in their youth are not the traits which make them leaders in later life.
Author: David Olgilvy | Subjects: Character, Education | Scholarship, Leadership, Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior
Where self-advancement cannot, or is not allowed to, serve as a driving force, other sources of enthusiasm have to be found if momentous changes, such as the awakening and renovation of a stagnant society or radical reforms in the character and pattern of life of a community, are to be realized and perpetuated.
Author: Eric Hoffer | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Change, Concepts, Leadership, Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior
Self-doubt is at the core of our being. We need people who by their attitude and words will convince us that we are not as bad as we think we are. Hence the vital role of judicious praise.
Author: Eric Hoffer | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Leadership, Psychology | Behavior
It is better to be bossed by men of little faith, who set their hearts on toys, than by men animated by lofty ideals who are ready to sacrifice themselves and others for a cause.
Author: Eric Hoffer | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Leadership, Life & Society
When societies first come to birth, it is the leader who produces the institutions. Later it is the institutions which produce the leaders.
Author: Montesquieu | Subjects: Culture, Leadership
Only the lead dog gets a change of scenery.
Author: Murphy’s Law | Source: Grizzard’s Sled-Dog Principle | Subjects: Gratitude, Leadership
How far would Moses have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt? What would Jesus Christ have preached if he had taken a poll in the land of Israel? What would have happened to the Reformation if Martin Luther had taken a poll? It isn’t polls or public opinion of the moment that counts. It’s right and wrong and leadership.
Author: Harry S. Truman | Subjects: Leadership, Politics & Public Policy
To get power you need to display absolute pettiness, to exercise power you need to show true greatness.
Author: Napolean | Subjects: Leadership, Power