CEO,
Likeable Local, NY Times Best-Selling Author & Keynote
Speaker
25 Quotes to Inspire You to Become a Better Leader
Great
quotes inspire us to change, to grow, and to become our best selves. I
researched thousands of quotes from successful leaders for
my last book,
to capture one for each chapter, covering 11 simple concepts to become a
better leader. My recent LinkedIn post explaining the 11 concepts
became the 2nd
most read article in LinkedIn history (at
1.3 million views!) So, I'm sharing my favorite quotes here- those which
inspired me enough that I published them in the book, along with the runners up.
Here are my 25 favorite likeable leadership quotes. I hope they inspire you as
much as they have inspired me:
Listening
1)
"When
people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." -
Ernest Hemingway
2)
"The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood.
The best way to understand people is to listen to them." - Ralph
Nichols
Storytelling
3)
"Storytelling
is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today." -Robert
McKee
4) "If
you tell me, it’s an essay. If you show me, it’s a story." —Barbara
Greene
Authenticity
5) "I
had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I've become.
If I had, I'd have done it a lot earlier." -Oprah
Winfrey
6) "Authenticity
is the alignment of head, mouth, heart, and feet - thinking, saying, feeling,
and doing the same thing - consistently. This builds trust, and followers love
leaders they can trust." -Lance
Secretan
Transparency
7) "As
a small businessperson, you have no greater leverage than the
truth." -John
Whittier
8) "There
is no persuasiveness more effectual than the transparency of a single heart, of
a sincere life." -Joseph
Berber Lightfoot
Team
Playing
9)
"Individuals
play the game, but teams beat the odds." -SEAL
Team Saying
10) "Alone
we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen
Keller
Responsiveness
11) "Life
is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." -Charles
Swindoll
12)
'"Your
most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." - Bill
Gates
Adaptability
13) "When
you're finished changing, you're finished." -Ben
Franklin
14) "It
is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but
the one most responsive to change." –Charles
Darwin
Passion
15)
"The
only way to do great work is to love the work you do." -Steve
Jobs
Surprise
and Delight
17) "A
true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others
cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless." -Charles
de Gaulle
18) “Surprise
is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” - Boris Pasternak
Simplicity
19) "Less
isn't more; just enough is more." -Milton
Glaser
20) “Simplicity
is the ultimate sophistication.” -Leonardo daVinci
Gratefulness
21) "I
would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude
is happiness doubled by wonder." -Gilbert
K Chesterton
22)
"The
essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude." -Friedrich
Nietzsche
Leadership
23) “Management
is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” — Peter F. Drucker
24)
"If
your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more,
you are a leader." —John Quincy
Adams
25)
"Leadership
and learning are indispensable to each other." —John F. Kennedy
