Frederick W. Smith Quotes

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

A leader's job is not to do the work for others, it's to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.

Leadership is an individual sport, one that has to be fine-tuned to each of the people that reports to you. Leaders also need to provide the direction, energy, encouragement and inspiration for each person who reports directly to the leader as well as for the overall organization.

When you're a manager, we sometimes speak too much about tactics, but the most difficult thing for a manager is to get the best from his best players.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best.

The manager's function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work.

The best thing you can do as a leader when people are pressed is get the obstacles out of their way.

As the captain of the team, my job involves more than just playing. I have to talk to the players and motivate them.

I don't view myself as a team manager, but a team captain. I'm part of the team, but everybody else as well.

Being a manager is about getting into the minds of the people you represent.

A good leader should focus on making sure everyone is being given the tools to do their job, not just expecting - poof! - that they're going to produce great work.

There's no way a director can communicate with every single person on the set and yet they need to motivate and instill an ambition to want to do their best work.

The great irony of management is that the higher up you go, the less actual control you have. When you are but a humble coder, you make the computer do exactly what you want; when you're a manager, you only hope that people understand what you want, and then trust/pray that they do it both correctly and in a timely manner.

I had to help to coax the performances and I really enjoyed that extra responsibility.

True leadership isn't about having an idea. It's about having an idea and recruiting other people to execute on this vision.

True leadership lies in guiding others to success. In ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well.

To be an effective leader, you have to have a manipulative streak - you have to figure out the people working for you and give each tasks that will take advantage of his strength.

When you're leading, don't talk.

Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.

Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better.

I am learning how to delegate and how to empower people.

Management is the opportunity to help people become better people. Practiced that way, it's a magnificent profession.

One of the jobs of a manager is to instill confidence, pump confidence into your people. And when you've got somebody who's raring to go and you can smell it and feel it, give 'em that shot.