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Great leadership isn’t about commanding, it’s about inspiring.
Whether you’re running a business, managing a team, or setting a vision for what’s next, the way you lead shapes everything. This curated collection of quotes brings together timeless wisdom on leadership, effective management, and the power of leading by example.
From business icons to bold thinkers, these words offer the kind of insight that challenges, motivates, and elevates how you show up as a leader.
What Makes a Great Leader? Timeless Quotes on Leadership
“Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” – Bill Bradley
“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nader
“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
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” – Peter F. Drucker
“Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.” – Diogenes
“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“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
Lead with Confidence, Not Control: Smart Management Quotes
“Praise in public, criticize in private.” – Vince Lombardi
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“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
“Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people.” – John D. Rockefeller
“The first rule of management is delegation. Don’t try and do everything yourself because you can’t.” – Anthea Turner
“Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Management is all about managing in the short term, while developing the plans for the long term.” – Jack Welch
“Inspect what you expect.” – Unknown
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” – Henry Ford
“His management philosophy, tempered in his rain-dancing days, was always to give the project to whoever had the most to gain from success – or the most to lose from failure.” – Michael Crichton, Congo
“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” – Charles de Gaulle
Leading by Example: The Most Powerful Form of Leadership
“As you become more present in your own life, you will begin to enlighten others by your example.” –
“Instruction is good for a child; but example is worth more.” –
“Wronging someone doesn’t right them. Leave vengeance. Don’t become what you hate. Instead, lead by example.” –
“Lead by Example, not by showing samples.” –
“Being an example to others is a requirement of following Jesus, even though none of us will ever be a perfect example.” –
“Serving is the best kind of Leading.” –
“Orders come from customers, not from leaders.” –
“If you want to serve as an example — it’s easier done than said.” –
“The reality is that the only way change comes is when you lead by example.” – Anne Wojcicki
“Everybody leads in different ways but the best captains lead by example.” – James Ward-Prowse
“Talk is cheap, but when you go out there and prove it – you’re the first one to show up for practice, and you’re the last to leave – that’s how you lead by example.” – Rajon Rondo
“Don’t just tell your kids to be active and to get outside and play. Lead by example.” – Summer Sanders
“We need more of those characters that lead by example for people coming up next to us.” – Marsai Martin
“It’s easy to ask other people to open up and to judge them if they don’t, but it’s always difficult to lead by example.” – Chris Harrison
“One of the most important actions, things a leader can do, is to lead by example. If you want everyone else to be passionate, committed, dedicated, and motivated, you go first!” – Marshall Goldsmith