600 Powerful Quotes About Ineffective Leadership (2023)

1. “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”

2. To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less. —Andre Malraux

3.  A good change leader never thinks, "Why are these people acting so badly? They must be bad people. A change leader thinks, How can I set up a situation that brings out the good in these people? - Author: Chip Heath

4. “When you are too embarrassed to ask for help, that’s a little knock at your door saying “you’re insecure”!” -Jocko Willink

5. “To build a strong team, you must see someone else’s strength as a complement to your weakness and not a threat to your position or authority” -Christine Caine

6.   “Your actions are too loud. I cannot hear what you’re saying”

7. “The outward expression of empathy is courtesy.” Stewart Butterfield

8. “We’d achieve more if we chase the dream instead of the competition. ”

9. “If you want something done right, let someone else do it. That’s what micromanagers believe.”

10. “Never be afraid to speak your mind on relevant issues; good leaders stand for relevance and they are never afraid to face the facts head on. Bad leaders see the problems, close their eyes and do something else!” 

11. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John Maxwell

12. “When you were made a leader you weren't given a crown, you were given the responsibility to bring out the best in others.” - Jack Welch, Former CEO of General Electric

13. You don't lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case. —Ken Kesey

14. “The value of our lives is not determined by what we do for ourselves. The value of our lives is determined by what we do for others. ”

15. “Hearing is listening to what is said. Listening is hearing what isn’t said. ”

16.  Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. —Colin Powell

17. My own definition of leadership is this: The capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence. —General Montgomery

18. “The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.” Bob Marley

19. “No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.” Andrew Carnegie

20. “Micromanagers think they’re conducting a symphony, but they’re really just making noise.”

21. “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.”

22. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations – Peter Drucker

23. “A team is not a group of people that work together. A team is a group of people that trust each other. ”

24. “From hero to zero: the Peter Principle in full effect.”

25. “Leadership is not a popularity contest; it’s about leaving your ego at the door. The name of the game is to lead without a title. ” – Robin S. Sharma

26. A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. —John Maxwell

27. “Pretty normal for a high-achiever to be shut out by superiors for various self-serving reasons. Keep achieving anyways.” 

28. “The best leaders are like tea bags – they don’t reveal their true strength until they’re in hot water.”

29. “A great leader is like a conductor, guiding the team to success with a symphony of strengths.”

30. “A good leader is like a compass, guiding the team towards a common goal.”

31. “The key to success is action.” Brian Tracy

32.     “Nothing will kill a great employee faster than watching you tolerate a bad one. ” -Perry Belcher

33. “The most serious failure of leadership is the failure to foresee. ” – Robert K. Greenleaf

34. “Leadership is getting people to work for you when they are not obligated.” ~ Fred Smith

35. “You don't necessarily need atomic bombs to destroy a nation. Politicians who value their pockets than the life of citizens always do that every day.” 

36. “There are good leaders who actively guide and bad leaders who actively misguide” – Shiv Khera

37. “I’m trying to be a nicer person, but everyone else is just so stupid.”

38. The supreme quality of leadership is integrity. –Dwight Eisenhower

39. “Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress; working hard for somthing we love is called passion. ”

40. “The biggest concern of an organization should be when their most passionate people become quiet. ” -Tim McClure

41. “The Peter Principle: where mediocrity meets promotion.”

42. “Teamwork is important. It helps you blame someone else.”

43. “Entrepreneurial leadership requires the ability to move quickly when opportunity presents itself.” Brian Tracy

44. “Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing.” ~ Warren Bennis

45.   “Without a plan, even the most brilliant business can get lost. You need to have goals, create milestones, and have a strategy to set yourself up for success. ” -Yogi Berra

46. “True leaders do not make choices with reference to the opinion of the majority. They make choices based on the opinion of the truth, and the truth can come from either the majority or the minority!” -Israelmore Ayivor

47. Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand. —General Colin Powell

48. “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. ” - Abraham Lincoln

49. “If the problems you have this year are the same problems you had last year, then you are not a leader. You are rather a problem on your own that must be solved.” 

50. There are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity and courage. —Fuchan Yuan

51. “The wrong people in the right positions: a recipe for disaster.”

52. “Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.” Eleanor Roosevelt

53. “Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it … Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine.” David Ogilvy

54. “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” Rosalynn Carter

55. “My 20 years of life went waste” Piyush Mishra comes crashing down on communists

56. “If micromanagement was a diet, it would be a crash diet that leaves you feeling weak and miserable.”

57.  Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. —General Dwight Eisenhower

58. “No one knows everything. But together, we know a whole lot. ”

59. “The best comedy comes from bad leadership.”

60. “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

61. “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” – General George S. Patton

62. “When leadership is a comedy of errors.”

63. “I believe to be a leader is to enable others to embrace a vision, initiative or assignment in a way that they feel a sense of purpose, ownership, personal engagement, and common cause. ”

64. The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground. —Sir Winston Churchill

65. “The best leaders have a high consideration factor. They really care about their people” Brian Tracy

66. As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. —Bill Gates

67.  Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. —Peter Drucker

68. “A good boss leads by example. A bad boss leads by fear.”

69. “Practice Golden Rule Management in everything you do. Manage others the way you would like to be managed.” Brian Tracy

70. “A bad boss can turn a good job into a prison sentence.”

71. “When we tell people to do their jobs, we get workers. When we trust people to get the job done, we get leaders. ”

72. “Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge. ”

73. “Managers do things right. · “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” ~ General George Patton · “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something ...

74. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. — General George Patton

75. “I’m not saying I’m Wonder Woman. I’m just saying no one has ever seen me and Wonder Woman in the same room.”

76. “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.”

77. The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true.  Leaders are made rather than born. —Warren Bennis

78. “Emotional intelligence is a way of recognizing, understanding, and choosing how we think, feel, and act. It shapes our interactions with others and our understanding of ourselves. It defines how and what we learn; it allows us to set priorities; it determines the majority of our daily actions. Research suggests it is responsible for as much as 80 percent of the “success” in our lives.” Joshua Freedman

79. “A bad boss is like a bad joke – you’ll hear it over and over again, and it never gets any funnier.”

80. “Good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and continually. However, the vision doesn’t come alive until the leader models it.”

81. “A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.”

82. “Bad bosses are like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re going to get, but it’s probably going to be disappointing.”

83. Leadership is about solving problems. The day employees stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or conclude you do not care. Either case is a failure on leadership. ” – Colin Powell, Politician

84.     “People don’t leave bad jobs; they leave bad bosses. ”

85. “If you want to know what a bad boss looks like, just ask someone with a great resignation story.”

86. The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and the will to carry on. —Walter Lippman

87. True leadership lies in guiding others to success. In ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well. —Bill Owens

88.  We [Israel people] always blame Moses, that he was our greatest leader and one of the most gifted people in the world. He brought us the moral code and so on, belief in one God, but then he was a bad navigator. He brought us to the only part of the Middle East without any gas, without any oil. - Author: Benjamin Netanyahu

89. “A boss who micromanages is like a coach who wants to get in the game. Leaders guide and support and then sit back to cheer from the sidelines. ”

90. “If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood, sweat, and tears. ”

91. “If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it.”

92. “I’m not arguing, I’m just passionately expressing my opinions.”

93. “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.” – Steve Jobs

94.   “Good players can’t overcome bad coaching. ”

95. “When the Peter Principle meets reality, the results are hilarious.”

96.  No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. —Abraham Lincoln

97. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

98.  Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team. - Author: John C. Maxwell

99. Great leaders believe they work for their team. ” – Alexander den Heijer

100. “A word of encouragement from a teacher to a child can change a life. A word of encouragement from a spouse can save a marriage. A word of encouragement from a leader can inspire a person to reach her potential.”

101.     “Never follow a follower who is following someone who has fallen. It’s why the whole world is falling apart. ” -Suzy Kassem

102. “If you really want to grow as an entrepreneur, you’ve got to learn to delegate.” Richard Branson

103. “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” John F. Kennedy

104. A good general not only sees the way to victory; he also knows when victory is impossible. —Polybius

105.  Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. —Warren Bennis

106. “Bad leaders believe their team works for them. Great leaders believe they work for their team. ” – Alexander den Heijer

107. “A bad boss is like a storm – you’ll see it coming, but you can’t do anything about it.”

108. “There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak. ”

109.  Leadership is influence. —John C. Maxwell

110. “Scum just like cream settles at the top. ”

111. “Leadership is neither a rank nor a title. It is a choice. The choice to provide care and protection for those for whom we are responsible. ”

112. “A bad leader stays at the shore, even when the team is drowning in the ocean of work.”

113. “You need to develop _(Insert underperforming person here.)__”

114. “The laughter of employees is the sound of bad leadership.”

115. A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. —Douglas MacArthur

116. “A bad boss is like a bad haircut – it may look good at first, but you’ll regret it in the end.”

117. The greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision. —Ken Blanchard

118. “Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles; Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances. Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it. Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.” Martin Luther King, Jr. 

119. “When personal agendas become more important than the team and the overarching mission’s success, performance suffers, and failure ensues” -Jocko Willink

120. “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

121.  Nothing will undermine your effectiveness as a leader faster than a bad marriage. - Author: Michael Hyatt

122. “Great leaders are willing to sacrifice the numbers to save the people. Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save the numbers. ”

123. “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” Harvey Mackay

124. “Leadership is about solving problems. The day leaders stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or conclude you do not care. Either case is a failure on leadership. ” -Colin Powell

125. “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” Jessica Jackley

126. “Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flow charts. It is about one life influencing another.” John C. Maxwell

127. “Management is like a tree full of monkeys, all on different limbs at different levels. Some monkeys are climbing up, some are climbing down. The monkeys on top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. The monkeys on the bottom look up and see nothing but assholes.”

128. “The challenge of the unknown future is so much more exciting than the stories of the accomplished past. ”

129. “Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.” James Freeman Clark

130. “If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success.”

131. A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. –George Patton

132. “Nothing will kill a great employee faster than watching you tolerate a bad one. ” -Perry Belcher

133. “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” ~ General George Patton

134. If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities. —Maya Angelou

135. “It’s better to have a great team than a team of greats. ”

136. It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. – Steve Jobs

137.  So what's with the crown?" Daphne asked

138. People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. - Thomas Sowell

139.     “A church leadership that cannot provide members with business ideas should stop demanding tithe from them. Plant greatness in the members and they pay greatly; Plant zero in them, and they pay in negatives!” -Israelmore Ayivor

140. “The three ‘C’s’ of leadership are consideration, caring, and courtesy. Be polite to everyone.” Brian Tracy

141. The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision – Helen Keller

142. “When they discover that their staff members are wiser than they are, bad managers become uneasy and stop listening to them”

143. The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. —Theodore Roosevelt

144. “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin

145. Not the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow. —Chinese Proverb

146. “Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.” John C. Maxwell

147. When I give a minister an order, I leave it to him to find the means to carry it out. —Napoleon Bonaparte

148. A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. —Lao Tzu

149. You manage things; you lead people. —Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

150. “No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced. ” -David Attenborough

151. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

152. “You can tell a bully from a leader by how they treat people who disagree with them.” - Miles K. Davis, President of Linfield College 

153. “Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration — of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine.” Lance Secretan

154. “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute. ”

155. “A bad boss is like a virus – they infect the entire workplace with negativity and toxicity.”

156. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” John C. Maxwell

157. “A good leader is someone who knows what he's bad at, and hires someone who's good at it to take care of it for him. ” - John Flanagan, The Battle for Skandia

158. “Effective leaders are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems. ” -Stephen Covey

159. The bad leader is he who the people despise; the good leader is he who the people praise; the great leader is he who the people say, We did it ourselves" - Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization

160. “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.” Vince Lombardi

161.  A leader is simply one who leads, and a bad leader can lead an army into Hell. I want these boys to be heroic, brave and wise. - Author: Anonymous

162.  After all, if you have the majority of customers, then what you do becomes the standard. Your competitors have little choice but to follow. If you are the leader, then having a nonstandard infrastructure is a bad idea. Ultimately, it leads to extinction. - Author: Douglas Gwyn

163.     “True leaders do not make choices with reference to the opinion of the majority. They make choices based on the opinion of the truth, and the truth can come from either the majority or the minority!” -Israelmore Ayivor

164. “People who take a long view of their lives and careers always seem to make much better decisions about their time and activities than people who give very little thought to the future.” Brian Tracy

165. He who has learned how to obey will know how to command. —Solon

166.  If the leader is a good man he will be liked and if he's not, he won't, and if he is a good man and a bad leader then he is better off dead. - Author: Bernard Cornwell

167. “The leader’s Attitude is like a thermostat for the place she works. If her attitude is good, the atmosphere is pleasant, and the environment is easy to work in. But if her attitude is bad, the temperature is insufferable. ” - John C. Maxwell, The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization

168. “Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.” – John Naisbitt

169. “A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them.” M.D. Arnold

170. “Real leadership is leaders recognizing that they serve the people that they lead.” Pete Hoekstra

171. “Say "no" to corruption; it does not fit you! Say "no" to bad leadership; you don't fit there. Say "no" to immorality; it will only fake you! Be bold to say "no" if that is what will take your breakfast away; you will get a sweeter lunch pack for compensation sooner.” 

172.  Never forget, organizational values start and end with you, the leader. Whether your example is good or bad, expect most employees to follow your lead. - Author: Mac Anderson

173. “Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word.” Brian Tracy

174. Glass, china, and reputation, are easily crack'd, and never well mended. - Benjamin Franklin

175. “A leader is best when people barely know he exists; when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.” Lao Tzu

176. He who has great power should use it lightly. —Seneca

177. “If I am to choose between "sleeping" and "being part of a leadership that pursues irrelevant agenda", I will choose "sleeping". Chasing of irrelevant agenda by a leadership sect is what made Nelson Mandela to call it "Long Walk to Freedom!” 

178. Lead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be led. —Ross Perot

179. “Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing.” – Warren Bennis

180. “Words may inspire but only action creates change. ”

181. “True leaders do not make choices with reference to the opinion of the majority. They make choices based on the opinion of the truth and the truth can come from either the majority or the minority!” 

182.   “While some communities are chasing visions out, others are chasing one another away. While some leaders love breaking records, others love breaking constructed buildings. Good leaders deserve golden trophies while a gas cylinder is ok for the bad ones. ” -Israelmore Ayivor

183.   “To build a strong team, you must see someone else’s strength as a complement to your weakness and not a threat to your position or authority” -Christine Caine

184. “Don’t show up to prove. Show up to improve. ”

185. “A bad leader is like a bad haircut – everyone can see it, but no one wants to talk about it.”

186. “I have a photographic memory, but I always forget to bring the film.”

187.   “Leadership is about solving problems. The day leaders stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or conclude you do not care. Either case is a failure on leadership. ” -Colin Powell

188. “The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free.” Oprah Winfrey

189. “I’m not sure if I’m actually productive or just good at pretending to be busy.”

190. “I cannot believe what you say coz I can see what you do. ”

191. “A church leadership that cannot provide members with business ideas should stop demanding tithe from them. Plant greatness in the members and they pay greatly; Plant zero in them and they pay in negatives!” 

192.   “I cannot believe what you say coz I can see what you do. ”

193.  The bad leaders are the ones that push hard so they can gain, who brow beat us so that they can receive the benefit of our hard work, not so we can enjoy the success - Author: Simon Sinek

194. ‎“I always believe that... · ‎“Leadership is not a popularity...

195. “No matter how good you think you are as a leader, my goodness, the people around you will have all kinds of ideas for how you can get better. So for me, the most fundamental thing about leadership is to have the humility to continue to get feedback and to try to get better – because your job is to try to help everybody else get better.”

196. The leader’s attitude is like a thermostat for the place she works. If her attitude is good, the atmosphere is pleasant, and the environment is easy to work in. But if her attitude is bad, the temperature is insufferable – John C. Maxwell

197. “Good leaders don’t tell people what to do; they give them capability and inspiration” -Jeffrey Immelt

198. “The really expert riders of horses let the horse know immediately who is in control, but then guide the horse with loose reins and seldom use the spurs.” Sandra Day O’Connor

199. Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths. —John Zenger

200. A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together. —Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

201.  Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems. —Brian Tracy

202. “There is a time to admire the grace and persuasive power of an influential idea, and a time to fear its hold over us. 

203. “The rise and fall of bad leaders: a comedic tragedy.”

204. “Management: making incompetence look easy.”

205. “Measure your impact in humanity, not in the likes, but the lives you touch; not in popularity, but in the people you serve. I found that my life got bigger when I stopped caring about what other people thought about me. You will find yours will too. Stay focused on what really matters. There will be times when your resolve to serve humanity will be tested. Be prepared. People will try to convince you that you should keep your empathy out of your career. Don’t accept this false premise.” Tim Cook

206. “The true measure of the value of any business leader and manager is performance.”

207. “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” George Patton

208. “Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.” Diogenes of Sinope

209.  If an alien lands on your front lawn and extends an appendage as a gesture of greeting, before you get friendly, toss it an eightball. If the appendage explodes, then the alien was probably made of antimatter. If not, then you can proceed to take it to your leader. - Author: Neil DeGrasse Tyson

210. It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. —Nelson Mandela

211. “One of the best paradoxes of leadership is a leader’s need to be both stubborn and open-minded. A leader must insist on sticking to the vision and stay on course to the destination. But he must be open-minded during the process. ”

212. “Leadership is getting people to work for you when they are not obligated. ” ~ Fred Smith

213. “There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust.” Klaus Balkenhol

214. “My boss is like a GPS that won’t shut up, even when you know where you’re going.”

215. “Leadership is not a popularity contest; it's about leaving your ego at the door. The name of the game is to lead without a title.” - Robin S. Sharma, Lawyer, and Author

216. Where there is no vision, the people perish. —Proverbs 29:18

217. “As a leader, you should always start with where people are before you try to take them where you want them to go.” Jim Rohn

218.  No party is as bad as its leaders. - Author: Will Rogers

219.  I am a leader in the fight against the national energy tax proposal some Congressional leaders are advocating. I call this bad idea 'cap-and-tax' because of the damage it will do to jobs, manufacturing and our economy. - Author: Jim Sensenbrenner

220. “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” Reverend Theodore Hesburgh

221. “There are no bad teams, only bad leaders. ” -Leif Babin

222. “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” Ralph Nader

223. “If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.” Jim Rohn

224.  The Soviet Union at this time was being run by the Communists, a group of men fierce in their dedication to wearing hilariously bad suits. Their leader was Josef Stalin (Russian for "Joey Bananas") - Author: Dave Barry

225. “I don’t always have a sarcastic response, but when I do, I usually keep it to myself.”

226. The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes. —Tony Blair

227. “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” William Arthur Ward.

228.  Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism. - Author: Rocky Anderson

229. “The difference between a good boss and a bad boss? A good boss is like a mentor, a bad boss is like a tormentor.”

230.   “Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they find a way to get it done. ” -Leif Babin

231. “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” – George S. Patton

232.   “Overconfidence was risky in such a hostile environment, a mistake most often made by warriors who had never truly been tested. ” -Jocko Willink

233. “A bad boss is like a distant planet – you can see it from afar, but it’s better to stay far away.”

234. You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do. —Eleanor Roosevelt

235. “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” Ronald Reagan

236. “A bad leader can take a good staff and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose all motivation. ”

237. ”Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. ” Peter Drucker

238. It is absurd that a man should rule others, who cannot rule himself. —Latin Proverb

239. “From zero to CEO: the Peter Principle in action.”

240. Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. —Jack Welch

241. “I’m not weird, I’m a limited edition.”

242. “Respect is the key determinant of high-performance leadership. how much people respect you determines how well they perform.” Brian Tracy

243. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

244. “If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings — and put compensation as a carrier behind it — you almost don’t have to manage them.” Jack Welch

245. “A true leader is someone who inspires others to be their best selves.”

246. “Be the leader you wish you had. ”

247.  A good leader takes care of those in their charge.  A bad leader takes charge of those in their care. - Author: Simon Sinek

248. The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. —Jim Rohn

249. “Overconfidence was risky in such a hostile environment, a mistake most often made by warriors who had never truly been tested. ” -Jocko Willink

250. “When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you. ”

251. “When the blind lead the blind, the results are hilarious.”

252.  Bad leaders care about who is right. Good leaders care about what is right - Author: Simon Sinek

253. “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” Bill George

254. “The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders, and continually develops them.” John Maxwell

255. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. —Max DePree

256. “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln

257. “Don’t let your ego get too close to your position so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go with it. ” -Colin Powell

258.     “Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led. ”- Stephen Covey

259. “Leadership is about solving problems. The day employees stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or conclude you do not care. Either case is a failure on leadership.” -Colin Powell, Politician

260. “A true leader leads by example, not by force.”

261. “Leaders set high standards. refuse to tolerate mediocrity or poor performance.” Brian Tracy

262. “A leader without a title is better than a title without the ability to lead. ”

263. “Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream.” – Malcolm Muggeridge

264.  Do not let a leader lead you on a bad path. - Author: Confucius

265. “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” Carl Jung

266. No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it. —Andrew Carnegie

267. “A bad boss is like a bad magician – they make your time disappear and your workload multiply.”

268. “If you really want the key to success, start by doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing.” Brad Szollose

269. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. —John Quincy Adams

270.  If we're not ready for leadership or don't want to be the leader, then we need to focus on our followership skills that relate to a bad leader or select another leader that we think would do a better job than we would. - Author: Kurt Madden

271. “A bad boss is like a bad joke: you can’t help but laugh (or cry).”

272. “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” Henry David Thoreau 

273. Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. —Publilius Syrus

274. A cowardly leader is the most dangerous of men. —Stephen King

275. “Leadership is a choice. It is not a rank. ”

276. “I once saw my boss write an email, then edit it five times in two minutes. That’s micromanagement on steroids.”

277. “I’m not lazy, I’m energy-efficient.”

278. “Don’t give to get. Give to inspire others to give. ”

279. “Leaders never use the word failure. They look upon setbacks as learning experiences.” Brian Tracy

280. “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.” – Steve Jobs

281. “Your actions are too loud. I cannot hear what you’re saying”

282. “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” Warren Buffet

283. “Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” Mary Tyler Moore 

284.   “Effective leaders are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems. ” -Stephen Covey

285. “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others. ” ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

286. “The difference between a leader and a micromanager? One inspires, the other perspires.”

287. ” · “The higher they climb, the harder they fall…and the 

288. “Greatness starts with a clear vision of the future. ”

289. “A leader’s job is not to do the work for others; it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done and to succeed beyond what they thought possible. ”

290. Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better. —Harry S. Truman

291.  When the sun sets, life gets darker in the country; when a bad leader sinks, life gets brighter in the country! - Author: Mehmet Murat Ildan

292. “When the wrong person gets the right job: a recipe for laughs.”

293.  The bad leader is he who the people despise; the good leader is he who the people praise; the great leader is he who the people say, We did it ourselves - Author: Peter M. Senge

294. “...while some communities are chasing visions out, others are chasing one another away. ....while some leaders love breaking records, others love breaking constructed buildings. Good leaders deserve golden trophies while gas cylinder is o.k for the bad ones!” 

295. A leader is a dealer in hope. —Napoleon Bonaparte

296. “A bad leader is like a nightmare you can’t wake up from – they haunt you even when you’re not at work.”

297. I am endlessly fascinated that playing football is considered a training ground for leadership, but raising children isn't. —Dee Dee Myers

298.  Education is the mother of leadership. —Wendell Willkie

299. “In the simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, and gets up and goes.” ~ John Erskine

300. “When you delegate tasks, you create followers. When you delegate authority, you create leaders.” Craig Groeschel

301. Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. - George Patton

302. “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. ” ~ General George Patton

303. To be effective you must not let your need to be right be more important than your need to find out what’s true. If you are too proud of what you know or of how good you are at something you will learn less, make inferior decisions, and fall short of your potential. - Ray Dalio, Principles: Life and Work

304. “Leadership is about solving problems. The day leaders stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost ...

305.   “Don’t let your ego get too close to your position so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go with it. ” -Colin Powell

306. He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander. —Aristotle

307. “It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.'” - Steve Jobs, Co-Founder of Apple

308. “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

309. No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it. - Andrew Carnegie

310. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Nelson Mandela

311. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

312. Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes. —Peter Drucker

313. “The leader’s Attitude is like a thermostat for the place she works” – John C. Maxwell

314.  Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better. —Bill Bradley

315. A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus – Martin Luther King

316. “I think I’m a natural-born leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it’s authority that I respect.”

317. No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it. - Andrew Carnegie

318. “Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing. ” ~ Warren Bennis

319.   “When personal agendas become more important than the team and the overarching mission’s success, performance suffers, and failure ensues” -Jocko Willink

320.  The leader is always alone before bad fates. - Author: Charles De Gaulle

321. “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better. ” ~ Steve Jobs

322. “Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they find a way to get it done. ” -Leif Babin

323. “People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.”

324. “A bad boss is like a broken record – they keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.”

325. “A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.” Brian Tracy

326. I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody. —Herbert Swope

327. Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. —Stephen Covey

328. A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. —John Maxwell

329. Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise – Woodrow Wilson

330.  Leaders need to have a ruthless commitment to resolving relational conflict regardless of how bad it feels. - Author: Bill Hybels

331. “The leader’s Attitude is like a thermostat for the place she works. If her attitude is good, the atmosphere is pleasant, and the environment is easy to work in. But if her attitude is bad, the temperature is insufferable.”

332. “The goal is not to be perfect by the end. The goal is to be better today. ”

333. “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” General Dwight Eisenhower

334. I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. —Ralph Nader

335. “The true value of a leader is not measured by the work they do. A leader’s true value is measured by the work they inspire others to do. ”

336. “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey

337. “A bad boss is like a fish that stinks from the head down.”

338. “Do not wait; the time will never be “just right.” Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” Napoleon Hill

339.  Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. —John C. Maxwell

340. “From cubicle to corner office: a tragedy in the making.”

341. “Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. ” ~ Colin Powell

342.  The good people of a nation always vote a bad leader as a president in Africa - Author: Aboagye Williamson De-graft

343. “Some people rise to the top, but only to sink like a stone.”

344. “The glue that holds all relationships together–including the relationship between the leader and the led–is trust, and trust is based on integrity.” Brian Tracy

345. “Bad leaders believe their team works for them. Great leaders believe they work for their team.” - Alexander den Heijer, Motivational Speaker

346. “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives.”

347.  Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing. —Tom Peters

348. “Micromanagement is like a game of Jenga: one wrong move and everything falls apart.”

349. “That may all be true,” said the Scarecrow, “but I shall be very unhappy unless you give me brains.”

350.  If 'pleasing the people' is the only criterion (of a 'big' leader), then going to war or pretending to go to war or simulating outrage and bad mouthing states you can do nothing about, is the playbook for you. - Author: Khaled Ahmed

351. “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.” John Maxwell

352.  Convincing a leader of the value of front-line ideas alone is rarely enough for that person to overcome years of entrenched bad habits and to change his management style. - Author: Dean M. Schroeder

353. “Being a boss is easy…said no one who’s ever worked for a terrible one.”

354. “Being a good leader requires remembering that you’re there for a reason, and the reason certainly isn’t to have your way. High-integrity leaders not only welcome questioning and criticism – they insist on it.”

355. . . Inaction costs more than poor decisions. Opportunity is stolen by indecision. You'll be taken blind by it. Nobody cares 

356. “People often say motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.”

357. “More is lost in indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind. ” -Marcus Tullius Cicero

358. com © - The Best Place to Learn New Slang Terms & Phrases

359.   “More is lost in indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind. ” -Marcus Tullius Cicero

360. “Without a plan, even the most brilliant business can get lost. You need to have goals, create milestones, and have a strategy to set yourself up for success. ” -Yogi Berra

361. “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

362. Don't get hung up on your views of how things "should" be because you will miss out on learnings how they really are. - Ray Dalio, Principles: Life and Work

363. To have long term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way. —Pat Riley

364. “If everything goes right, we get a good experience. If everything goes wrong, we get a good story. ”

365. “Micromanagers believe that if they’re not constantly breathing down your neck, you’ll stop working altogether.”

366. “Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position.” Brian Tracy

367. “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”

368. Do what you feel in your heart to be right–for you’ll be criticized anyway. —Eleanor Roosevelt

369. “While some communities are chasing visions out, others are chasing one another away. While some leaders love breaking records, others love breaking constructed buildings. Good leaders deserve golden trophies while a gas cylinder is ok for the bad ones. ” -Israelmore Ayivor

370. “I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right.”

371. “The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says, ‘Go!’ – a leader says, ‘Let’s go!'”

372.  Never give an order that can't be obeyed. —General Douglas MacArthur

373.  Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. —Stephen Covey

374. “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” Peter Drucker

375. “Listening is not understanding the words of the question asked, listening is understanding why the question was asked in the first place. ”

376. You manage things; you lead people. - Grace Hopper

377. A ruler should be slow to punish and swift to reward. —Ovid

378. “The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”

379. “Micromanagers have a black belt in breathing down your neck.”

380. ”Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better. ” Harry S. Truman

381.  Two main definitions of a true leader; His presence is noticed and his absence is felt. . . ! - Author: Israelmore Ayivor

382. “A good leader is like a coach – they push you to be your best and celebrate your wins.”

383. What you do has far greater impact than what you say. —Stephen Covey

384. Without a plan, even the most brilliant business can get lost. You need to have goals, create milestones, and have a strategy to set yourself up for success. -Yogi Berra

385. “Dealing with complexity is an inefficient and unnecessary waste of time, attention, and mental energy. There is never any justification for things being complex when they could be simple.” Edward de Bono

386. “It only takes one person to mobilize a community and inspire change. Even if you don’t feel like you have it in you, it’s in you. You have to believe in yourself. People will see your vision and passion and follow you.” Teyonah Parris

387. “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” ~ General Dwight Eisenhower

388.  The best thing you can give as a leader is a reason to trust. People want to trust. They're hungry for it. But they're selective. They'll only give it to a motivator, a communicator, a teacher, a real person. Someone who in good times and bad always does the right thing. - Author: Jeffrey R. Immelt

389. Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish. —Sam Walton

390.  Few sciences are as rooted in shame, infamy, and bad PR as human anatomy. The troubles began in Alexandrian Egypt, circa 300 B. C. King Ptolemy I was the first leader to deem it a-okay for medical types to cut open the dead for the purpose of figuring out how bodies work. - Author: Mary Roach

391. “Earn your leadership every day.” Michael Jordan

392. Don't necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership. —Donald Rumsfeld

393. “A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.” Jim Rohn 

394. “Ego clouds and disrupts everything. ” -Leif Babin

395. The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It's got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet. —Reverend Theodore Hesburgh

396. “Bad leaders care about who is right. Good leaders care about what is right. ”

397. “Great and pure thoughts cannot be deposited in minds accumulated with rubbish. ” -Michael Bassey Johnson

398. So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. —Peter Drucker

399. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower -Steve Jobs

400. “The hardest part is starting. Once you get that out of the way, you’ll find the rest of the journey much easier. ”

401. “A bad leader is like a puzzle with missing pieces – they can never put everything together.”

402. “A bad leader is like a clock that’s always slow – they’re never on time and everyone’s always waiting.”

403. “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” Arnold Glasow

404. “I’m not bossy, I’m just better at telling other people what to do.”

405. “Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led. ”- Stephen Covey

406. “Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” W. Clement Stone

407. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” Leo Buscaglia

408.  Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. —Vince Lombardi

409.  This aesthetic quality, then, is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from losers, good politics from bad, and he-man leader-types from consultant-directed puppet-boys. - Author: Thomas Frank

410.     “A bad leader can take a good staff and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose all motivation. ”

411.  You have to remain cool under fire and let criticism roll off you. Good leaders handle conflict easily and bad ones are eaten up by it. - Author: Donald Trump

412. “A leader is a dealer in hope.”

413. “Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar.” Orrin Woodward

414. “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. ” ~ General Dwight Eisenhower

415. “A bad leader is like a bad comedian – their jokes are stale, and nobody’s laughing.”

416. “Progress is more important than perfection. ”

417. “Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes.” – Lewis Grizzard

418. “The key responsibility of leadership is to think about the future. No one else can do it for you.” Brian Tracy

419. “Customers will never love a company until its employees love it first. ”

420. The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership. —Harvey Firestone

421. “Leadership is hard to define and good leadership even harder. But if you can get people to follow you to the ends of the earth, you are a great leader.”

422. “Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.”- Coco Chanel

423. “People don’t leave bad jobs; they leave bad bosses. ”

424.  An individual school can handle a resident idiot from time to time, but an entire school system is only as good as its weakest leader. - Author: Tucker Elliot

425. “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Warren Bennis

426. “A star wants to see himself rise to the top. A leader wants to see those around him rise to the top.” Simon Sinek

427. “I used to think my boss was a clown. Now I realize they’re the entire circus.”

428. You don’t lead by hitting people over the head—that’s assault, not leadership. –Dwight Eisenhower

429. “Never follow a follower who is following someone who has fallen. Its why the whole world is falling apart.” 

430. If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing. —Benjamin Franklin

431. “Great leaders are most wanted. They are most wanted for what they do with their gifts and talents. Their dreams are so unique in such a way that their presence becomes a source of hope and courage for others to thread on along. Why won't they look for them?” 

432.   “Genuine leaders lead by encouraging, not instilling fear in their fellow workers. ”

433. “To me, a leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. And so what I think is really important is sustainability.”

434. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

435. “A culture is strong when people work with each other, for each other. A culture is weak when people work against each other, for themselves. ”

436. “Good leaders organize and align people around what the team needs to do. Great leaders motivate and inspire people with why they’re doing it.” Marillyn Hewson

437. “Don’t be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard.” General Colin Powell

438. “Ineptitude at its finest: when bad leaders rise to the top.”

439. “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. ’” – Steve Jobs

440. “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

441. “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” Bill Gates

442. “When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.'”

443. “Promoting the incompetent: the ultimate comedy of errors.”

444. “Leaders are innovative, entrepreneurial, and future-oriented. They focus on getting the job done.” Brian Tracy

445. “Great leaders must have two things: a vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate that vision clearly. ”

446. “Vision is a destination – a fixed point to which we focus all effort. Strategy is a route – an adaptable path to get us where we want to go. ”

447.   “When you are too embarrassed to ask for help, that’s a little knock at your door saying “you’re insecure”!” -Jocko Willink

448. “The greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision.” Ken Blanchard

449. “A man’s gotta make at least one bet a day, else he could be walking around lucky and never know It.” -Jim Jones

450. “Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” Tom Peters

451. “Lead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be led.” Ross Perot

452. “Working for an overbearing leader is like being stuck in a Groundhog Day loop of criticism and control.”

453. People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. —John Maxwell

454. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” ~ John Maxwell

455. “Happy employees ensure happy customers. And happy customers ensure happy shareholders – in that order. ”

456. “There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us. ”

457.  Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. —John F. Kennedy

458. “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.” ~ Steve Jobs

459. “Learning is not a one-time event or a periodic luxury. Great leaders in great companies recognize that the ability to constantly learn, innovate, and improve is vital to their success.” Amy Edmondson

460. “You can tell a bully from a leader by how they treat people who disagree with them. ” – Miles K. Davis

461.  When we're trying to decide whether a leader is a good leader or a bad one, the question to ask is: 'Is he with the Ten Commandments or is he against them?' Then you can determine if the leader is a true messiah or another Stalin. - Author: Isaac Bashevis Singer

462. “Being a leader is making the people you love hate you a little more each day.” Patrick Ness

463. “When the blind lead the blind, it’s called management.”

464. “I used to think I was indecisive, but now I’m not sure.”

465. “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” 

466. “The higher they climb, the harder they fall…and the funnier it is.”

467. “Genuine leaders lead by encouraging, not instilling fear in their fellow workers. ”

468. “Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.”

469. Great people have both great character and great capabilities. - Ray Dalio, Principles: Life and Work

470. “First get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where to drive.” ~ Jim Collins

471. “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

472. Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. —General George Patton

473. A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be. —Rosalynn Carter

474.  He really was a very bad leader in that respect - and it was why his Arrows gave him their unswerving dedication. All of them rejects from the world, from their families. No one else had ever come for them, ever would. Silence or not, it mattered that Aden would. - Author: Nalini Singh

475. “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” – Arnold H. Glasow

476. “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

477. Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity. - Reed Markham

478.  A leader's job is to develop committed followers. Bad leaders destroy their followers' sense of commitment. - Author: Dean Smith

479. “Micromanagement is like trying to catch a fish with your bare hands: it might work occasionally, but it’s not sustainable.”

480. “If only micromanaging was an Olympic sport, our boss would win gold.”

481. “The true test of leadership is how well you function in a crisis.” Brian Tracy

482.  Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. —Norman Schwarzkopf

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

484. To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult. —Friedrich Nietzsche

485. “The true mark of a leader is the willingness to stick with a bold course of action — an unconventional business strategy, a unique product-development roadmap, a controversial marketing campaign — even as the rest of the world wonders why you’re not marching in step with the status quo. In other words, real leaders are happy to zig while others zag. They understand that in an era of hyper-competition and non-stop disruption, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something special.” Bill Taylor

486. “A bad boss is like a bad ex – you can’t change them, but you can change your job.”

487. “Micromanagement is like trying to control a wildfire with a water pistol.”

488. “A church leadership that cannot provide members with business ideas should stop demanding tithe from them. Plant greatness in the members and they pay greatly; Plant zero in them, and they pay in negatives!” -Israelmore Ayivor

489. “Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” Bill Bradley

490. “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” –Benjamin Disraeli

491. “Don’t be a bottleneck. If a matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problem areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it.” Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense

492. “Leadership skills? What leadership skills?”

493. “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” Albert Schweitzer

494. “Scum just like cream settles at the top”

495. “A good leader is someone who knows what he's bad at, and hires someone who's good at it to take care of it for him.”

496. We live in a society obsessed with public opinion. But leadership has never been about popularity. —Marco Rubio

497. “A bad boss is like a bad dream – you wake up hoping it was just a nightmare, but unfortunately, it’s your reality.”

498. “The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it’s to create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they’re valued.”

499. . . Have a favorite bad leadership quote I missed?

500. The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. . - George Bernard Shaw

501. “If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.” John C. Maxwell

502. “Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.” Stephen Covey

503. “A bad leader is like a cat trying to herd sheep – it just doesn’t work.”

504. “America isn’t Congress. America isn’t Washington. America is the striving immigrant who starts a business, or the mom who works two low-wage jobs to give her kid a better life. America is the union leader and the CEO who put aside their differences to make the economy stronger.”

505. “Overbearing leaders are like a dark cloud that follows you everywhere you go.”

506.  Leadership is the key to 99 percent of all successful efforts. —Erskine Bowles

507. “Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.” – John Naisbitt

508. “Working for a micromanager is like trying to solve a puzzle with someone who keeps rearranging the pieces.”

509. “One of the most deadly causes of destruction of divine destinies is when a leader is failing, but he or she does not know it. Ignorance about your role is a death plot against people's successes.” 

510.  A good leader is someone who knows what he's bad at, and hires someone who's good at it to take care of it for him. - Author: John Flanagan

511. “Bad leaders care about who is right. Good leaders care about what is right.'” - Simon Sinek, Author, and Motivational Speaker

512. “Never follow a follower who is following someone who has fallen. It’s why the whole world is falling apart. ” -Suzy Kassem

513. “Leadership is an individual sport, one that has to be fine-tuned to each of the people that reports to you. Leaders also need to provide the direction, energy, encouragement and inspiration for each person who reports directly to the leader as well as for the overall organization.”

514. “Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.” ~ Colin Powell

515. “What you do has far greater impact than what you say.” Stephen Covey

516. “Leadership is the ability to get extraordinary achievement from ordinary people.” Brian Tracy

517. ” “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we 

518. No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it. ” – Andrew Carnegie

519. “You don't necessarily need atomic bombs to destroy a nation. · “Great and pure thoughts cannot be deposited in minds accumulated with rubbish.” · “True leaders ...

520. “Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.” Ronald Reagan

521. “Stay connected to feel empathy, compassion, and understanding for yourself and others.” Vanessa Tucker

522. “Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

523. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. ” ~ John Maxwell

524. “There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it. ”

525. “The effective leader recognizes that they are more dependent on their people than they are on them. Walk softly.” Brian Tracy

526. “Martin Luther King gave the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, not the ‘I Have a Plan’ speech. ”

527. “Promotion: when the joke’s on you.”

528. “Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start. ”

529. I must follow the people. Am I not their leader? —Benjamin Disraeli

530.  Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. —Woodrow Wilson

531. “A strong secure leader accepts blame and gives credit. A weak insecure leader gives blame and takes credit.” - John Wooden, Basketball Coach

532.     “Great and pure thoughts cannot be deposited in minds accumulated with rubbish. ” -Michael Bassey Johnson

533. If you aren’t willing to be mocked, you’ll never be able to lead. Naval Ravikant

534. “Bad managers don’t listen to their employees because it makes them feel insecure when they find that employees are smarter than themselves. ”

535. A good leader is someone who knows what he’s bad at, and hires someone who’s good at it to take care of it for him – John Flanagan, The Battle for Skandia

536. “Micromanagers don’t have a monopoly on nitpicking, but they’re the reigning champs.”

537.  Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save the numbers. - Simon Sinek ...

538. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

539. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead

540. “First get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where to drive. ” ~ Jim Collins

541. “Micromanagers are like helicopter parents, but for adults.”

542. Whatever you are, be a good one. —Abraham Lincoln

543. “Great leaders don’t see themselves as great; they see themselves as human. ”

544. If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants. - Isaac Newton

545. A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. —Max Lucado

546. “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.”

547.     “Bad managers don’t listen to their employees because it makes them feel insecure when they find that employees are smarter than themselves. ”

548. The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. —Kenneth Blanchard

549. “Fight against something and you focus on the thing you hate. Fight for something and you focus on the thing you love. ”

550. “The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.”

551. “A bad leader is like a bad hair day – it’s best to avoid them altogether.”

552. “I’m not great at giving advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?”

553. “Good players can’t overcome bad coaching. ”

554. “Life is beautiful not because of the things we see or do. Life is beautiful because of the people we meet. ”

555. “Leadership is not a license to do less. Leadership is a responsibility to do more. ”

556. “Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.” Reed Markham

557. It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. - Steve Jobs

558. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams

559.   “There are no bad teams, only bad leaders. ” -Leif Babin

560. “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” Sam Walton

561. “If you always put a limit on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” Bruce Lee

562. “The most serious failure of leadership is the failure to foresee.” - Robert K. Greenleaf, Founder of the Modern Servant Leadership Movement

563. A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops. —John J Pershing

564. “Leadership is not about you. It's about investing in the growth of others.'” - Ken Blanchard, Author and Business Consultant 

565. Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position. —Brian Tracy

566. “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”

567. “Let me define a leader. He must have vision and passion and not be afraid of any problem. Instead, he should know how to defeat it. Most importantly, he must work with integrity.”

568. “The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.”

569. Earn your leadership every day. –Michael Jordan

570.  Bosses and leaders everywhere should cherish the people who bring them bad news, disappointing data or hard problems. - Author: Margaret Heffernan

571. “One of the most deadly causes of destruction of divine destinies is when a leader is failing, but he or she does not know it. Ignorance about your role is a ...

572. “A bad boss is like a traffic jam – frustrating, slow-moving, and impossible to escape.”

573. You don’t need a title to be a leader. –Multiple Attributions

574. All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership. —John Kenneth Galbraith

575.  The leader's Attitude is like a thermostat for the place she works. If her attitude is good, the atmosphere is pleasant, and the environment is easy to work in. But if her attitude is bad, the temperature is insufferable. - Author: John C. Maxwell

576.   “Good leaders don’t tell people what to do; they give them capability and inspiration” -Jeffrey Immelt

577. “Overbearing leaders have a knack for making their employees feel like they’re playing a game of Whac-A-Mole.”

578. “You are authentic when everything you say and everything you do you ACTUALLY believe. ”

579. “The bad leaders are the ones that push hard so they can gain, who brow beat us so that they can receive the benefit of our hard work, not so we can enjoy the success.”

580. “Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.” Oprah Winfrey

581. “The worst part about working for a micromanager is that they think they’re helping you, when they’re really just hindering you.”

582. The leader has to be practical and a realist yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist. —Eric Hoffer

583. One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. —Arnold Glasow

584. Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power. - Seth Berkeley

585. “Superior leaders are willing to admit a mistake and cut their losses. Be willing to admit that you’ve changed your mind. Don’t persist when the original decision turns out to be a poor one.” Brian Tracy

586. “A good leader takes care of their team, even if it means staying up late and losing some sleep.”

587. “Always choose the future over the past. What do we do now?” Brain Tracy

588. “Putting yourself first is not selfish. Quite the opposite. You must put your happiness and health first before you can be of help to anyone else. ”

589.   “Ego clouds and disrupts everything. ” -Leif Babin

590. “A bad leader can take a good staff and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose all motivation. ”

591.  Everything that is bad, the falling sickness - God save the mark - or the like, should be at its worst at the full moon. I suppose because it is the leader of the stars. - Author: Lady Gregory

592. “A bad boss is like a terrible coach – they’re more interested in winning at all costs than developing their team.”

593. “The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good.” Brian Tracy

594.   “Scum just like cream settles at the top. ”

595. “Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team. ” – John C. Maxwell

596. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” William Falkner

597. “Don’t confuse actions of a ruler as the nature of his people.” 

598.   “The biggest concern of an organization should be when their most passionate people become quiet. ” -Tim McClure

599. “When you delegate work to a member of the team, your job is to clearly frame success and describe the objectives.” Steven Sinofsky

600. A leader might never anticipate failure, but knowing that it can happen 

601. “Leadership is not something that is done to people, like fixing your teeth. Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” Bill Bradley

602. “As a leader, you must consistently drive effective communication. Meetings must be deliberate and intentional – your organizational rhythm should value purpose over habit and effectiveness over efficiency.”

603. “Great and pure thoughts cannot be deposited in minds accumulated with rubbish.” 

604. “Always plan for the fact that no plan ever goes according to plan. ”

605. “A bad leader is like a broken pencil – pointless.”

606. “I always believe that ultimately, if people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy, and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics. ” – Barack Obama

607. “Leadership is the capacity to transform vision into reality.” Warren G. Bennis

608. “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” Jack Welch

609.  Leadership cannot just go along to get along. Leadership must meet the moral challenge of the day. —Jesse Jackson

610. Leaders think and talk about solutions; they don’t think and talk about problems – Paul J Meyer

611. “I never forget a face, but in your case, I’ll make an exception.”

612. My responsibility is getting all my players playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back. –Unknown

613. A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: 

614. “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe. ”

615. I am reminded how hollow the label of leadership sometimes is and how heroic followership can be. —Warren Bennis

616. A leader's job is not to do the work for others, it's to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible. - Simon Sinek

617. “No one is going to make you a leader. Take the reins, create your own opportunity, and build the career that you deserve.” Devin Bramhall

618. “A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.”

619.   “No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced. ” -David Attenborough

620. Great leaders are willing to sacrifice the numbers to save the people. Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save the numbers. - Simon Sinek

621. “The best way to deal with a micromanager is to agree with everything they say, then do the opposite.”

622. “When you are too embarrassed to ask for help, that’s a little knock at your door saying “you’re insecure!”” – Jocko Willink

623. In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. —Thomas Jefferson

624. “Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems.” Brian Tracy

625. “A bad leader is like a GPS that keeps sending you in circles – you never get anywhere.”

626.  An institution that suffers from a plethora of leaders is surely in a bad way. - Author: Mahatma Gandhi

627. “In the simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, and gets up and goes. ” ~ John Erskine

628. “No leader, however strong, can succeed at anything of national importance or significance unless he has the support and cooperation of the people he is tasked to lead and sworn to serve.”

629. “A small team, committed to a cause bigger than themselves, can achieve absolutely anything. ”

630. “...21st century leaders use their brain cells more than their muscle tissues!” 

631. “I can’t be an adult today, I need a nap.”

632. “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. ” - Martin Luther King