Successful leaders don't start out asking, 'What do I want to do?' They ask, 'What needs to be done?' Then they ask, 'Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?'
It is easier to raise the performance of one leader than it is to raise the performance of a whole mass.
Charisma becomes the undoing of leaders. It makes them inflexible, convinced of their own infallibility, unable to change
The three most charismatic leaders in this century inflicted more suffering on the human race than almost any trio in history: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What matters is not the leader's charisma. What matters is the leader's mission.
Leaders grow; they are not made.
The leader sees leadership as responsibility rather than as rank and privilege.
Most leaders don't need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.
Leadership is all hype. We've had three great leaders in this century-Hitler, Stalin, and Mao.
Too many leaders try to do a little bit of 25 things and get nothing done. They are very popular because they always say yes. But they get nothing done.
Quality of character doesn't make a leader, but the lack of it flaws the entire process.
Don't take on things you don't believe in and that you yourself are not good at. Learn to say no. Effective leaders match the objective needs of their company with the subjective competencies. As a result, they get an enormous amount of things done fast.
Leaders shouldn?t attach moral significance to their ideas: Do that, and you can?t compromise.
The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers.
We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don't spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don't need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop
The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.