A leader is not one who stands separate and apart, above and beyond
those around him or her. A leader is one who has not only been there
but stays there to remain in touch with the common man.
A leader may know more but knows that one is only superior in
knowledge not in humanity, for the great leader leads by example and is
still willing to do the rudimentary, the fundamental, the mundane. For
if he loses touch, it is because he no longer believes he is as
everyone else, rather he believes that he is above and beyond. It is
here where the leader loses control and begins his descent.
A leader is one who makes his living in the memorable:
compassion, integrity, honesty, courage, conviction, and the like. It
is only through these characteristics that he lives an eternity. He
only uses degrees, titles, monetary and material gain as vehicles to
strengthen and enhance that character. For the leader must take great
risk, and it is in this risk and the constant applying of his character
that he makes his ascent and remains upon the hill, buried there,
looked up to by generations to come.
The tyrant may become infamous but it is the gentleman who becomes famous and remains in our minds for eons to come.
So do that which is right, do that which is difficult, go
against the crowd when the crowd only sees the easy way out or the pile
of cash that could be made. For the leader knows that money is only the
result of the great character that is built as the leader discovers the
wonder he has become.
It is in the giving that we become. It is in the giving of
that which we've learned that carries us on, into the eternal hearts
and minds of those we've lead who model us to become the becomed. The
leader in all of us shines in the one but only a few chose to lead and
add to the light of the sun in the shining for others they have done.
An eternal doing the leader has done.
Lead on!
Leadership Quotes:
"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on."--
Walter Lippmann
"The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still
reaches us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still
reach us with the radiations of their
personalities."--
Khalil Gibran
"It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed."--
Harvey S. Firestone
"A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done."--
Dwight D. Eisenhower
"When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally."--
Lao Tse
"Good leaders are like baseball umpires - they go practically unnoticed when doing their jobs right."--
Byrd Baggett
"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
"Every great person is always being helped by everybody; for their gift is to get good out of all things and all persons."--
John Ruskin
"Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems."--
Brian
Tracey
"Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."--
Dwight D. Eisenhower
"The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves."--
Ray Kroc
"Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him."--
Booker T. Washington
"Management works in the system. Leadership works on the system."--
Stephen R. Covey
"Good management consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people."--
John D. Rockefeller
"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. High expectations are the key to everything."--
Sam Walton
"No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him."--
W. H. Auden
"The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to
do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling
with them while they do it."--
Theodore Roosevelt
"Expect people to be better than they are; it helps them to become
better. But don't be dissapointed when they're not; it helps them to
keep trying."--
Merry Browne
"Treat a man as he is, he will remain so. Treat a man the way he can be
and ought to be, and he will become as he can be and should be."--
Goethe
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambition. Small people
always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can
become great."--
Mark Twain
"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true
revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to
think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."--
Che Guevera
"In the final analysis, it is not what you do for your children but
what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them
successful human beings."--
Ann Landers
"A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions."--
Confucius
"Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word."--
Brian Tracey
"If you don't understand that you work for your mislabeled
subordinates, then you know nothing of leadership. You know only
tyranny."--
Dee W. Hock
"Great men never make bad use of their superiority. They see it and
feel it and are not less modest. The more they have, the more they know
their own deficiencies."--
Jean Jacques Rousseau
"The great are great only because we are on our knees. Let us rise!"--
Max Stirner
"Great work is done by people who are not afraid to be great."--
Fernando Flores
"The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind,
but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be
humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but
without folly."--
Jim Rohn
"Anybody who accepts mediocrity-in school, on the job, in life-is a
person who compromises, and when the leader compromises, the whole
organization compromises."--
Charles Knight
"Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk."--
Carl Jung
"If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal
or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you
will have given your children the greatest of all blessings."--
Brian Tracy