Quotes About Leadership

The federal government was giving no guidance that a reasoning person could credit. Few local governments did better. They left a vacuum. Fear filled it. The government's very efforts to preserve "morale" fostered the fear, for since the war began, morale—defined in the narrowest, most shortsighted fashion—had taken precedence in every public utterance. As California senator Hiram Johnson said in 1917, "The first casualty when war comes is truth.

To have any chance in alleviating the devastation of the epidemic required organization, coordination, implementation. It required leadership and it required that institutions follow that leadership.

So the final lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that those who occupy positions of authority must lessen the panic that can alienate all within a society. Society cannot function if it is every man for himself. By definition, civilization cannot survive that. Those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best.

Wilson declared, "It isn't an army we must shape and train for war, it is a nation.

Part of that relationship requires political leaders to understand the truth—and to be able to handle the truth.

For if there is a single dominant lesson from 1918, it's that governments need to tell the truth in a crisis.

Despite that effort, whoever held power, whether a city government or some private gathering of the locals, they generally failed to keep the community together. They failed because they lost trust. They lost trust because they lied. (San Francisco was a rare exception; its leaders told the truth, and the city responded heroically.) And they lied for the war effort, for the propaganda machine that Wilson had created.

WHILE SCIENCE was confronting nature, society began to confront the effects of nature. For this went beyond the ability of any individual or group of individuals to respond to. To have any chance in alleviating the devastation of the epidemic required organization, coordination, implementation. It required leadership and it required that institutions follow that leadership.

Those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best. A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will people be able to break it apart.

Those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best.

execute, is that those who occupy positions of authority must lessen the panic that can alienate all within a society.

positions of authority must lessen the panic that can alienate all within a society.

hubris syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by recklessness, an inattention to detail, overwhelming self-confidence and contempt for others; all of which, he observes, "can result in disastrous leadership and cause damage on a large scale." The syndrome, he continues, "is a disorder of the possession of power, particularly power which has been associated with overwhelming success, held for a period of years and with minimal constraint on the leader.

He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.

A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.

A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do. (Leroy Eims)

I discovered that great men were willing to share their ideas. And I was learning so much. You can learn only if others are ahead of you.

Take yourself out of the picture. Get in the habit of asking what's best for the team. For example, the next time you are at a problem-solving meeting and everyone is contributing ideas, instead of promoting yourself, ask yourself how the team would do if you were not involved in the solution. If it would do better, then propose ideas that promote and involve people other than yourself.

The best leaders are humble enough to realise their victories depend upon their people.

I am convinced that your Mayor must take the leadership role in education too.

A lot of people criticize the primaries, but I think they are absolutely essential to the education of the President of the United States.

In general, higher education does not know how to speak for its interests. It offers a stance that is defensive, cowardly and likely to be ineffective.

In the history of enterprise, most of the protagonists of major new products and companies began their education