Quotes About Leadership

Mayors could never get away with the kind of nonsense that goes on in Washington. In our world, you either picked up the trash or you didn't. You either moved an abandoned car or you didn't. You either filled a pothole or you didn't. That's what we do every day. And we know how to get this stuff done.

The pursuit of perfection is far too important to be handed over to the control and direction of a set of people who by blood, force or election have acquired the right to call themselves 'governors'.

potestas is specific, auctoritas is extendable and can grow.

Leadership in telecommunications is also essential, since we are now in the age of e-commerce.

Leia, only weak leaders never admit to mistakes. Strong leaders don't need to pretend to be infallible.

If the execution of a million or more sentient beings, the destruction of a dozen planetary communities, isn't enough—if the members of the Council need a living victim paraded in front of them to move them to act—then shame on them. And shame on us.

Shame is a scarce commodity in politics

Fire and idealism may be fine qualities for the leader of a revolution, but the leader of a great republic needs to be several degrees cooler and a good deal more canny.

Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominate political mythology.

That's the mark of a good office. The people who do the work get on with it without bothering to tell the boss.

The first orchestral leader to use a baton was German conductor Louis Spohr, in 1820. Prior to the use of a baton, conductors often tapped a staff on the floor to demonstrate the beat — a practice that led to the death of 17th century French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, who stabbed himself in the foot with his staff and subsequently died of gangrene.

A writer is very much like the captain on a star ship facing the unknown. When you face the blank page and you have no idea where you're going. It can be terrifying, but it can also be the adventure of a lifetime.

The things journalists should pay attention to are the issues the political leadership agrees on, rather than to their supposed antagonisms.

The underlying principles of strategy are enduring, regardless of technology or the pace of change.

If your goal is anything but profitability - if it's to be big, or to grow fast, or to become a technology leader - you'll hit problems.

The best CEOs I know are teachers, and at the core of what they teach is strategy.

Ken Lay has, does and will continue to accept responsibility for the fall of Enron. He was the man at the controls. But failure is not a crime.

Because of my father, we are that Shining City on a Hill.

You know my father as governor, as president, but I knew him as dad. I was so proud to have the Reagan name and to be Ronald Reagan's son.

At first I was surprised by how hard it was for our church to navigate all this.

Hire the wrong people and you'll find that you can't beat them hard enough to make them treat customers well. Hire the right people and no beatings are necessary.

The greatness of Intel is not that it is smarter than other companies (though it may well be) or that it is too clever and competent to make a false move (we've just seen a stunning example of the very opposite) but that it has consistently done better than any company, perhaps ever, at recovering from its mistakes.

It was important for Bob Noyce to be liked, which paralyzed his ability to fire people or reposition them downward, even when the company and those who worked for it were at risk.