English Leadership Thoughts

"Do I look for good managers or good leaders? Let us bury that old distinction. Good managers are good leaders, and good leaders are good managers. But great leaders have a special touch that separates them from managers. Good management gets 100 percent of a team's designed capability. Great leaders seek a higher ground. They take their followers to 110, 120, 150 percent of what anyone thought was possible. Great leaders do not just motivate followers; they inspire them"

"What is a leader?" people ask me. My simple answer: "Someone unafraid to take charge. Someone people respond to and are willing to follow." I believe that leaders must be born with a natural connection and affinity to others, which then must be encouraged and developed by parents and teachers and molded by training, experience, and mentoring. You can learn to be a better leader. And you can also waste your natural talents by ceasing to learn and grow"

"I lead in the way of righteousness , in the midst of the paths of judgment : That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures"

"The future is taking shape now in our own beliefs and in the courage of our leaders. Ideas and leadership — not natural or social "forces" — are the prime movers in human affairs"

"Serve To Lead Motto of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England. RMA Sandhurst has served as the officer training school of the British Army since the former's foundation in 1802."

"With the changes in technological complexity, especially in information technology, the leadership task has changed. Leadership in a networked organization is a fundamentally different thing from leadership in a traditional hierarchy"

"Leadership does not mean domination. The world is always well supplied with people who wish to rule and dominate others. The true leader is a different sort; he seeks effective activity which has a truly beneficent purpose . He inspires others to follow in his wake, and holding aloft the torch of wisdom , leads the way for society to realize its genuinely great aspirations"

"Any Ivy League academy asshole can issue orders and take the credit. What matters is when you place your own ass on the line, and your men know that you are not some armchair commander asking them to risk death while you enjoy the good life. Morale is everything, and you do not build it by typing goddamned reports and having cocktail parties"

"As we, the leaders, deal with tomorrow, our task is not to try to make perfect plans. Our task is to create organizations that are sufficiently flexible and versatile that they can take our imperfect plans and make them work in execution. That is the essential character of the learning organization"

"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. ... The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully"

"Character is what you are. Reputation is what others think you are. The reason that some fail to climb the ladder of success, or of leadership if you want to call it that, is that there is a difference between reputation and character. The two do not always coincide. A man may be considered to have sterling character. Opportunity might come to that man; but if he has the reputation for something he is not, he may fail that opportunity. I think character is the foundation of successful leadership"

"The art of leading, in operations large or small, is the art of dealing with humanity , of working diligently on behalf of men, of being sympathetic with them, but equally, of insisting that they make a square facing toward their own problems"