Ten Profound Leadership Quotes

Leadership is a skill sorely lacking in our day. Society is so unmoored from its past and its heritage that it struggles to stay right-side-up. Nowadays, leadership is often confused with management. Management is organizing people and resources to accomplish a task; leadership is determining what needs to be accomplished and setting the vision.

Below are ten profound quotes on leadership. They are quotable, insightful, and some of my personal favorites.

1) “A leader must give up to go up.” (John Maxwell)

There is a reason that there isn’t more leadership in the world. It is costly and expensive. Everyone wants to lead, but few want to put in the work to lead. Whatever you aim to lead in, you must sacrifice to achieve that leadership. As another of my favorites quotes goes, “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.”

2) “The art of resting the mind, and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry, is probably one of the secrets of our great men.” (Captain J. A. Hatfield)

Leadership comes with troubles, cares, and worries. The most successful leaders are able to focus their minds on the important and avoid falling prey to emotions and ‘what-ifs.’ War movies often demonstrate the necessity of swift action, but it is true everywhere: leadership demands action, resolve, and an ability to mentally cope with the consequences and uncertainties.

3) “If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” (G. K. Chesterton)

This goes against how we normally think. If something is worth doing, isn’t it worth doing well? Of course, yes. But here is the difficulty: far too often, we assume that if we can’t do something well, we may as well not do it at all. The point here is that you have to get your hands dirty, start in, and have some failures along the way. The ultimate goal is to do it well, but no one starts out perfectly.

4) “Run to trouble and speak publicly.” (Tom Forrester)

This is simple advice for anyone who wants to lead. It is the exact opposite of our instincts, and that is why it separates the leaders from the followers. Get involved in the projects that everyone else is avoiding. Take every opportunity to speak publicly. It is hard, but it will set you apart.

5) “Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy.” (Baltasar Gracian)

Again, this is different from how we often think. If it is easy, we don’t think much about it – and consequently, we often make mistakes or overestimate ourselves. If it is difficult, we fret and worry about it so much that we intimidate ourselves. The true leader approaches things differently.

6) “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” (Jesus Christ)

I am ever more convinced that faithfulness lies near the heart of success, and it is vastly underrated. The ability to plod – to do the same thing time and again, once it is no longer cool or interesting – is what leads to success and real change, far more than flashy leadership at pivotal moments.

7) “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” (Harry S. Truman)

I agree. How can you be a leader without being a voracious reader? If you are going to set the course, you need to know what lies ahead. If you are going to attract followers, they need to trust that you are always growing intellectually, and that you have thought through other opinions, carefully considering the alternatives.

8) “A leader is a dealer in hope.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)

This lies at the heart of management versus leadership. Anyone can keep the machine going, or the army marching – but the leader is the one who motivates through the hope of a better life or a great victory. Leaders are those who capitalize on times of despair in order to provide hope for the desperate.

9) “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” (Thomas Jefferson)

Being unique and obviously different can have some advantages, but too much of it makes you appear weird, not exceptional. Cults certainly look unique, but there is a reason that they don’t attract many followers. The danger for leadership is to be so committed to certain ideas that you lose touch with reality around you. Instead, integrate as far as your principles allow you.

10) “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” (Dwight D. Eisenhower)

Plans can’t foresee the unexpected, making them useless in times of crisis or dramatic change. Planning, however, involves studying different possibilities and getting a grasp on the entire situation. Planning means that you are so familiar with the factors that you can readily abandon your plans and still provide informed leadership.