Quotes About Leadership

He was leading those who risked their lives over that bridge in Selma, not Janice Joplin, Columbia University, or a labor union. It wasn't John Lennon that taught people about love and peaceful resistance — that job fell on the shoulders of a Jewish carpenter.

What have you done with your knowledge and priesthood power that those without have not done this week? If you cannot answer that with power every day, what does that say about you?

When men ruled over men, time was wasted and misspent.

It is in no citizen's best interest to follow politicians who use panic, confusion, and hastily crafted legislation to enact emergency powers that they themselves barely understand. Panic will not lead this ship to a safer port, only farther out to sea, into far deeper and more dangerous waters.

The typical mentality among the leadership of "less work for more money" is far too prevalent. Outstanding efforts by individual employees are frowned upon, because they give "management" a reason to expect better results without an increase in compensation.

He was very commanding, and you had to know what you were doing to work for Mr. Rogers. I learned how to ride very quickly with him as my riding teacher.

He's the President—it's the responsibility of every citizen to criticize aggressively when they think it's warranted.

Courage is contagious.

More remarkable is the fact that in country after country, revelations that the NSA was spying on hundreds of millions of their citizens produced little more than muted objections from their political leadership. True indignation came gushing forward only once those leaders understood that they, and not just their citizens, had been targeted as well.

Clearly no one knows what leadership has gone undiscovered in women of all races, and in black and other minority men.

Swiftboating enters the English language as a verb that means attacking strength instead of weakness. In feminist and other social justice contexts, this has long been called trashing, attacking leaders for daring to write, speak, or lead at all. Taking away the good is even more lethal than pointing out the bad. p.189

I've noticed that great political leaders are energized by conflict. I'm energized by listening to people's stories and trying to figure out shared solutions. That's the work of an organizer.

At my age, in this still hierarchical time, people often ask me if I'm "passing the torch." I explain that I'm keeping my torch, thank you very much—and I'm using it to light the torches of others.

There is no such thing as a perfect leader. We have to learn to lead ourselves.

People now ask me if I'm passing the torch. I always explain that no, I'm keeping my torch, thank you very much. And I'm using it to light the torches of others. Because the truth is that the old image of one person with a torch is part of the problem, not the solution. We each need a torch if we are to see where we're going. And together, we create so much more light.

Power is being redefined. Women often explain with care that we mean power to control our lives, but not to dominate others.

She didn't put her finger to the wind; she became the wind.

All movements need a few people who can't be fired.

Your daughters are watching you.

The best way for us to cultivate fearlessness in our daughters and other young women is by example. If they see their mothers and other women in their lives going forward despite fear, they'll know it's possible.

In the same way that individual women are often underestimated, a movement of women is also underestimated.

Also reporters kept asking Ferraro if a woman could be "tough enough" to "push the button," meaning declare a war, though they didn't ask male candidates if they could be wise enough not to.

This is all the more important today when we have world leaders who don't respect differences. That lack of respect is a dictatorship.

Not only had I never made any such complaints, but at political meetings, I had given my suggestions to whatever man was sitting next to me, knowing that if a man offered them, they would be taken more seriously. You white women, Mrs. Greene said kindly, as if reading my mind, if you don't stand up for yourselves, how can you stand up for anybody else?