How Influential Leaders Think: 21 Quotes that Inspire Greatness

Here are a few of my favorite “leadership” quotes that have helped me shape my thinking, take better (and often more decisive action) and become a leader that others choose to follow and learn from.

I’d love to hear in the comments if you have another quote that inspires you too!

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

~ John Quincy Adams

“As a leader, you will be called upon to go first. That will require courage. But in stepping out, you will give the gift of courage to those who are watching.”

~ Andy Stanley

“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”

~ Douglas MacArthur

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.”

~ Andrew Carnegie

“Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.”

~ Peter F. Drucker

“Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position.”

~ Brian Tracy

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

~ Jack Welch

“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult.”

~ Warren Bennis

“Control is not leadership; management is not leadership; leadership is leadership. If you seek to lead, invest at least 50 percent of your time in leading yourself–your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct. Invest at least 20 percent leading those with authority over you and 15 percent leading your peers.”

~ Dee Hock

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”

~ Rosalynn Carter

“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.”

~ John Kenneth Galbraith

“A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.”

~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“Don’t tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

~ George S. Patton Jr.

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

~ Woodrow Wilson

“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.”

~ Tony Blair

“Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.”

~ Bill Bradley

“Transformational leaders don’t start by denying the world around them. Instead they describe a future they’d like to create instead.”

~ Seth Godin

“To lead any way other than by example, we send a fuzzy picture of leadership to others. If we work on improving ourselves first and make that our primary mission, then others are more likely to follow.”

~ John C. Maxwell

“All great leaders are irate at violations of their core values; their resulting action demonstrates their leadership.”

~ Dave Logan

“Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty
in every opportunity.”

~ Reed Markham