A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
John C. Maxwell
People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.
The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up.
The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.
Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.
Everything rises and falls on leadership.
There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. 'Good pride' represents our dignity and self-respect. 'Bad pride' is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance.
A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.
People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.
Everyone has the potential to become an encourager. You don't have to be rich. You don't have to be a genius. You don't have to have it all together. All you have to do is care about people and initiate.
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.
Leadership is influence.
Learn to say 'no' to the good so you can say 'yes' to the best.
To add value to others, one must first value others.
The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.
As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.
People who add value to others do so intentionally. I say that because to add value, leaders must give of themselves, and that rarely occurs by accident.
Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we shrink from them.
Live to learn, and you will really learn to live.
The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.
Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.
Good executives never put off until tomorrow what they can get someone else to do today.
Good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and continually. However, the vision doesn't come alive until the leader models it.
In the end, people are persuaded not by what we say, but by what they understand.
Policies are many, Principles are few, Policies will change, Principles never do.
Failed plans should not be interpreted as a failed vision. Visions don't change, they are only refined. Plans rarely stay the same, and are scrapped or adjusted as needed. Be stubborn about the vision, but flexible with your plan.
Most people don't like change. They revolt against it unless they can clearly see the advantage it brings. For that reason, when good leaders prepare to take action or make changes, they take people through a process to get them ready for it.
Your attitude towards failure determines your altitude after failure.
Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not. When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from the pack, it's almost always due to personal growth.
Without failure there is no achievement.
Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness.
All of the people in my life whom I consider to be close friends or colleagues are good thinkers.
Inability to make decisions is one of the principal reasons executives fail. Deficiency in decision-making ranks much higher than lack of specific knowledge or technical know-how as an indicator of leadership failure.
Educators take something simple and make it complicated. Communicators take something complicated and make it simple.
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.
Enjoyment is an incredible energizer to the human spirit.
The unsuccessful person is burdened by learning, and prefers to walk down familiar paths. Their distaste for learning stunts their growth and limits their influence.
A minute of thought is greater than an hour of talk.
When your dream is bigger than you are, you only have two choices: give up or get help.
We choose what attitudes we have right now. And it's a continuing choice.
Success comes to those who have an entire mountain of gold that they continually mine, not those who find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years.
The best leaders are readers of people. They have the intuitive ability to understand others by discerning how they feel and recognizing what they sense.
Have the humility to learn from those around you.
A lack of realism in the vision today costs credibility tomorrow.
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.
The best way a mentor can prepare another leader is to expose him or her to other great people.
Every person has a longing to be significant; to make a contribution; to be a part of something noble and purposeful.
The first time you say something, it's heard. The second time, it's recognized, and the third time it's learned.
Remember, man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.
People who use time wisely spend it on activities that advance their overall purpose in life.
