One of the keys to a successful business is great leadership. Leaders can have a profound impact on employee engagement, retention and productivity and can be the difference between a high performing team and one that fails to succeed. Leadership can take on many forms and doesn’t necessarily require that someone be in a management position, just the ability to bring together and inspire greatness in others and provide a vision for the future of an organization. The following quotes are meant to inspire those in leadership positions to take a close look at ways in which they can can improve their leadership style and effectiveness.
“Good leaders must first become good servants.” – Robert Greenleaf
Servant leadership starts with a shift of heart-set and agenda. Today, make those you lead (even informally) your top priority. How can you help them be as successful as possible?
“Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything.” – Alexander Hamilton
Today, think about the concept of integrity. In what areas could you do a better job living your values or keeping the commitments you’ve made (or implied) to others?
“We must become the change we want to see.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Make today your day for “walking the talk.” It’s your job to role model whatever values and attitudes you think are most important to your team’s success.
“Truly great leaders spend as much time collecting and acting upon feedback as they do providing it.” – Alexander Lucia
Today, practice courage and humility. Pull two people aside and ask them for feedback on how you could better serve them. Listen carefully…and then thank them for their gift to you.
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” – Kenneth Blanchard
Today, focus on the subtle power of influence. How can you move others not by telling or insisting, but by offering, asking or wondering, “What if…?”
“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
Today, focus on selflessness. Your job is to lead others by supporting their efforts and then giving them credit for success…even if you did some of the work.
“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own.” – Benjamin Disraeli
Today, see if you can be a mirror that helps reflect back to your peers and friends that value that they bring to the organization, the world…and to you. Then watch how we all begin to stand taller.
“We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.” – Mary Dunbar
No two leaders lead the exact same way. Today, consider what your unique gifts are that allow you to lead others in a way that is both healthy and unique.
“People prefer to follow those who help them, not those who intimidate them.” – C. Gene Wilkes
Just like the sun, leaders can either stimulate growth or scorch and burn. Today, be the bright light that helps those around you grow.
“Let us be a little humble; let us think that the truth may not perhaps be entirely with us.” – Jawaharlal Nehru
You’re already smart…very smart. Today, focus on also becoming wise by allowing your “truths” to be expanded by the insights and perceptions of others.
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton
Test yourself today. How good can you be at reflecting and amplifying the contributions of others? At day’s end, rate yourself by how you made others feel.
“A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.” – David Gergen
The most effective motivation always comes from within ourselves. What can you do today to help others see their own immense possibilities so they can motivate themselves?
“The wisest mind has something yet to learn.” – George Santayana
Wisdom is like a ladder. You cannot get to the next rung without releasing the one you’re at right now. What “truths” can you release today that are holding you back?
