In short
This page from Best Of Motivation collects nine quotes on leadership for managers and team leaders, from Warren Bennis, Peter Drucker, Colin Powell, Stephen Covey, John F. Kennedy, Jack Welch, Ronald Reagan, Ralph Waldo Emerson and John C. Maxwell. Each one comes with a line on how to use it at work, and where a quote’s origin is disputed or unconfirmed, we say so.
What does it mean to be a leader? Ask ten people and you’ll get ten answers. Some leaders had a big vision. Others had the courage to carry people through hard times. Others simply made everyone around them better.
These nine quotes on leadership capture a lot of that in a few words. Use them as a reminder, a team-meeting opener or a question to ask yourself this week.
What are the best quotes on leadership?
“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult.”
Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader (1989)
At work: you lead best when you stop copying someone else’s style.
“Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things.”
Often attributed to Peter Drucker. The idea is his; this exact wording comes from Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus (1985).
At work: check that the task your team is doing well is the right task.
“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”
Often attributed to Colin Powell. It appears in A Leadership Primer, a widely shared summary of his leadership lessons.
At work: if nobody brings you problems any more, ask why.
“Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.”
Often attributed to Stephen Covey. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) he writes about putting first things first.
At work: name the one priority this week, then protect it.
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
John F. Kennedy, remarks prepared for the Trade Mart in Dallas, 22 November 1963 (never delivered)
At work: ask your team for one thing you could do better.
“When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
Jack Welch with Suzy Welch, Winning (2005)
At work: measure your week by who got better, not only by what got done.
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”
Ronald Reagan, 14 December 1975
At work: give the visible work to someone on your team.
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. The earliest known version is a 1903 poem by Muriel Strode.
At work: try one new way of doing a routine task this month.
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
Often attributed to John C. Maxwell.
At work: do the thing you’re asking your team to do, where they can see it.
Attribution sources: Quote Investigator on the “leave a trail” line · Barry Popik on “doing the right things” · Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
How do you use a leadership quote at work?
- Open a team meeting with one quote and ask what it means for this week.
- Pin one where you’ll see it daily and pick one habit that goes with it.
- Use one in a one-to-one to start a conversation about how someone wants to grow.
A quote is a prompt. The habit you build from it is what changes the team.
What do people ask about quotes on leadership?
What is a good short quote on leadership?
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other,” from John F. Kennedy, is short and easy to act on: keep learning and ask your team how you can improve.
Did Emerson say “leave a trail”?
There’s no record of it in his works. The earliest known version is a 1903 poem by Muriel Strode, and the familiar wording appeared much later.
Who said “management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things”?
It’s often credited to Peter Drucker, who wrote about doing things right and doing the right things. The exact management and leadership wording comes from Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus in 1985.
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