Leadership

The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive.
Joe Batten, motivational speaker/consultant

Do not desire to fit in. Desire to lead.
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000), poet

Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge: fitter to bruise than to polish.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-72), poet

Those who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me, accepted all my views, and yielded easily to my opinions, were those who did me the most injury, and were my worst enemies, because, by surrendering to me so easily, they encouraged me to go too far... I was then too powerful for any man, except myself, to injure me.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1820), Emperor of France

Leaders don't make excuses for inaction. They are first movers and early adopters.
They make things happen.
The Future of Leadership, W. Bennis, G.M. Spreitzer, and T.G. Cummings

Your foremost job as a leader is to raise your own energy level and then to help orchestrate the energies of those around you.
Peter Drucker, management expert

Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.
Clint Eastwood

Power is nothing without control.
Tirelli tire commercial

You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go.
Jeanette Rankin (1880-1973), feminist and politician

Example is leadership.
Albert Schweitzer

Someone once said that good leaders take a little more than their share of the blame and a little less than their share of the credit.

Good leaders guide the willing and persuade the stubborn.

A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune.

Until you learn to follow you will not be able to lead.
Zig Ziglar

It's up to a leader to instill confidence, to believe in his judgment and in his people even when they no longer believe in themselves.... sometimes the leader has to be optimistic simply because if he isn't nobody else will be. And you've got to at least try to fight back, no matter how daunting the odds.
Leadership, Rudolph Giuliani (page 298)