‘No man will make a great leader if he wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.’
ANDREW CARNEGIE
‘What seems important or clever or in need of some dramatic moment a lot of times just needs reflection and care.’
BARACK OBAMA
‘If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.’
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
‘There is nothing I value more in subordinates than their willingness to tell me I’m wrong, to challenge me, to sharpen my decision making. Surrounding yourself with sycophants and bootlickers is the surest way to failure.’
BILL CLINTON & JAMES PATTERSON
‘Our democracy cannot survive its current downward drift into tribalism, extremism and seething resentment. Today it’s “us versus them” in America. Politics is little more than blood sport. As a result, our willingness to believe the worst about everyone outside our own bubble is growing, and our ability to solve problems and seize opportunities is shrinking.’
BILL CLINTON & JAMES PATTERSON
‘In the culture of some companies, management depends heavily on the innate goodness and professionalism of its employees to constantly compensate for systematic deficiencies, chronic understaffing and substandard contractors.’
CHESLEY “SULLY” SULLENBERGER
‘The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome will become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance.’
CICERO
‘The way I like to put it, leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.’
COLIN POWELL
‘Dedicated to advancing the inner side of leadership and successful enterprise in which how we do business together is as important as what we produce, and how we serve others is as vital as how much we profit.’
COOPER & SAWAF
‘For success at the highest levels, in leadership positions, emotional competence accounts for virtually the entire advantage.’
DANIEL COLEMAN
‘We are, after all, the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth. If working apart, we are a force powerful enough to destabilize our planet. Surely working together, we are powerful enough to save it.’
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
‘We are in a disordered period of rising tensions, but then again, we usually are. Human competence races ahead, but wisdom remains as rare a commodity as it ever was’.
DANIEL YERGIN
‘When I studied at Harvard I thought organisation behaviour and the people stuff was a waste of time because it couldn’t be quantified. Thirty years on, I realise that it is the most important part of management.’
DAVID NORBURN
‘Leadership has a hard and a soft side, and the higher you go the more important the soft side becomes.’
DEANNE JULIUS
‘Leadership is action, not position.’
DONALD MCGANNON
‘There is a direct relationship between socially responsible investment and corporate financial performance’
DR JOSEPH ADELEGAN
‘The supreme quality for a leader is unquestionably integrity.’
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
‘We should take care not to make intellect our god. It has of course powerful muscles, but no personality.’
EINSTEIN
‘Old devils are re-emerging…..and history is threatening to return to its tragic path. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying ‘our interests first’…we erase what a nation holds dearest ……its moral values.’
EMMANUEL MACRON
‘In a networked world, trust is the most important currency.’
ERIC SCHMIDT
‘Leadership is of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision – its practice is an art. Management is of the mind, more a matter of accurate calculation of statistics, of methods, timetables and routines – its practice is a science. Managers are necessary – Leaders are essential.’
FIELD MARSHALL LORD SLIM
‘If you believe in unlimited quality and act in all your business dealings with total integrity, the rest will take care of itself.’
FRANK PERDUE
‘It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead – and find no one there.’
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
‘Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.’
GENERAL NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF
‘Effective leadership means having moral authority rather than formal authority’
HASSAN DIAB
‘Focus not on ego but on what can be achieved.’
HASSAN DIAB
‘Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.’
HONOR DE BALZAC
‘A man who wants to lead an orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.’
JAMES CROOK
‘Focusing time and effort investment on clarifying and executing what is important in integrating leadership and teamwork with strategic intent is the foundation of executive accountability.’
JAN CHILDS
‘The power of emotionally intelligent leadership is shaping destiny and winning strategy through recognition and understanding of own and others’ emotions, and using integrity and intuition to guide behaviour.’
JAN CHILDS
‘The power of emotions is ignored or underestimated at our peril, not only by political leaders, but by those in any context who misuse their influence over others.’
JAN CHILDS
‘Whatever the context, principled leadership incorporates intellectual acuity with emotional integrity.’
JAN CHILDS
‘What creates trust, in the end, is the leader’ s manifest respect for the follower’ .
JIM O’ TOOLE
‘The role of leadership is to find, recognize, and secure the future.’
JOEL BARKER
‘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.’
JOHN ADAIR
‘Leadership means having a clear vision of where you want to go and giving people the self-confidence to deliver that.’
JOHN ARMITT
‘You can usually fix a technology problem, but the most important thing is people’s motivation, willingness and management.’
JOHN ARMITT
‘The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.’
JOHN F KENNEDY
‘A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.’
JOHN MAXWELL
‘The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.’
JOHN MAXWELL
‘There is a direct relationship between socially responsible investment and corporate financial performance’
JOSEPH ADELEGAN
‘The larger and more authoritarian the organization, the better the chance that its top decision makers will be operating in purely imaginary worlds.’
KENNETH BOULDING
‘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.’
LAO-TZU
‘If the CEOs of the clients that we deal with knew what we see on a day to day basis of the internecine rivalries at the geographical and functional level, it is terrifying. It is in our own organisation. I often say if we spent 10% of the time that we spend on corporate infighting focused on our clients or on the competition, we would be about 50% more profitable.’
MARTIN SORRELL
‘Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.’
NAPOLEON
‘It’s not my responsibility to think for 5,000 people. It’s my responsibility to create an environment where 5,000 people can think’
NEVILLE RICHARDSON
‘Leadership begins and ends with you. You cannot lead others until you know how to lead yourself with integrity and alignment to your inner values.’
NICK OWEN
‘In a corporate atmosphere, values are thought of positively because they originate from the leadership. But people within a company may often think of them as negative. Top management may state that their values include people first, but front liners may see the reality to be people last.’
PETER WICKENS
‘Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business.’
PT BARNUM
‘The function of leadership is to produce more leaders not more followers.’
RALPH NADER
‘Part of leadership is harnessing your passions in a way that serves your goals but another part of leadership is retaining your humanity.’
RUDOLPH GIULIANI
‘The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it.’
THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY
‘When leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders’
UNKNOWN
‘Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.’
WARREN BENNIS
‘Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.’
WARREN BENNIS
