Quotes About Leadership

Solo sé que un buen líder es aquel que no tiene miedo a las consecuencias de sus decisiones, y que toma el paso que le dicta su intuición, pase lo que pase.

Dogs and wolves are the same, except for one difference: dogs live at home, food and water are provided and they sleep in their owner's bed. Wolves, meanwhile, live on mountains, have to find their own food and somewhere to kip . . . I want a team full of hungry and ambitious wolves.' (Boza Maljkovic)

Guardiola knows it is easier to work with a group hungry for victory rather than with one that has won everything, and he considered David Silva and Kun Agüero vitally important to the team if they were able to improve their defensive attitudes, as it is in these positions that the first line of pressure starts.

I can see that he is capable of doing it because he has made a great deal of decisions in a short space of time.

Guardiola believed in handing greater responsibility to the footballers, trusting that their intuition could help solve a great amount of their problems. As a coach, Pep remained true to this idea and was determined to let his charges take the initiative.

Guardiola told me that if there is a hint of disharmony within the group he removes it, as he did with Eto'o and Ibrahimovi?, who wanted to be stars in a team where no one feels a star.

He became as demanding of himself as he was with his players and staff but, in everything he did, he always made it a priority to explain why he was asking them to do something. He was always the first to arrive and the last to leave, working mornings and afternoons at the training ground. Every aspect of running the team had to be under his control: he demanded daily reports and updates from all his staff. Nothing was left to chance.

The senior players, meanwhile, understood perfectly well, and as one recognised: 'He always used us as an example, but he was always fair with us and everyone else.' Pep was finding solutions to the team's problems, relying on instinct and experience to motivate, inspire and get the best out of the youngsters.

If each person does their job, and they know what it is because I make sure they know, then we are a team that is difficult to beat.

When we have the ball, we can't lose it. And when that happens, run and get it back. That is it, basically.' The squad, the group, was seduced. Not for the last time; far from it. Upon leaving the room, Xavi commented to a team-mate that everything that they had needed to know was there in that talk. A breath of fresh air, order and discipline. A reminder of the style he wanted to reinforce. All that was established from day one.

Pep's do-or-die attitude from the sidelines (constantly correcting and signalling during games, treating every match as if it were the last, intensely focused on the job, passionate and occasionally over-exuberant) as well as his off-pitch behaviour (making the team eat together, scouting rival players and teams, unheard of at the time in the third division) suggested he was a leader, ready for management. Ready to lead at any level. Any team.

La confianza, la seguridad y la sinceridad son los pilares fundamentales para un buen entrenador.

Barça had finished the league eighteen points behind Madrid the previous season and, at times like that, sportsmen typically need somebody to show them the way, point out to them how to correct mistakes.

He cleansed the dressing room of players who were uncommitted and oblivious of the club's core values: prioritising good football and hard work ahead of individual talent. Before they met for pre-season, Pep received messages from key players in the squad backing his bravery; the squad's leaders were effectively opening the door to the dressing room for him.

Pep and Bielsa have much in common: they love teams that dominate, that want to be protagonists on the pitch, to seek out the opposition goal as the main priority.

Ingla and Txiki set out a plan for the rest of the season which saw them working and consulting simultaneously with both Rijkaard and Pep, talking about players, injuries and recoveries and principally how to shake up the working model of the club. The primary goal was to professionalise the first team.

From his very first day in the job as coach, Pep went out of his way to appeal to the feelings of his players: demanding solidarity and effort from everyone. Those values represent a reflection of himself. He knew that in order to lead the group he must be consistent, manage the little details and big egos – and convince everyone, not only to do as he asked, but to believe in what he was asking them to do.

In life there are two ways of telling people what to do: either give them orders or set an example and encourage them to follow it. Pep is very much of the latter school of thought.

On one occasion Guardiola explained that there are two types of coaches: those who think problems solve themselves and those who solve problems. Guardiola belongs to the group that seeks solutions. That is his real passion.

always accumulate more players than your rival right from the start of a move to gain the initiative. So, having three players near the ball if the other team have two, or four players if they have three.

It is important in football, as in any walk of life, to appear calm in times of crisis. To hide weaknesses. Pep told them with conviction that they were on the right path.

Rijkaard and Ten Cate made the perfect double act; the ultimate good cop/bad cop routine, but without Henk banging his fist on the table, Rijkaard's nice guy routine led to chaos.

Débil Juárez? El indio que llegó a presidente en medio del caos político más severo de nuestra historia; que rodeado de enemigos, resistió la invasión de los franceses y los derrotó; que se negó a ceder un centímetro más del territorio nacional; definió este país. Le dio rumbo e identidad. ¿Te parecía blandito?

El comandante avanzaba a paso lento, bobeando como si fuera un pensionado