Tom Ford Quotes

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.

I just love working with actors, and I love working with writers, working with designers. I feel that I am just a storyteller, and whether I am wearing the director hat or the playwright hat, it doesn't matter. And the rooms I tend to be in are pretty democratic, and the best idea wins.

The great fun for me is these collaborators. I'm nothing by myself. Being with these people, whether it's the 'Homeland' cast or stage collaborators, they make you everything you are. They make you come to work. They make you be alive.

Directing, I get all kinds of inspiration. It's working with people. It's a lot more fun.

You don't make a movie by yourself; you certainly don't make a TV show by yourself. You invest people in their work. You make people feel comfortable in their jobs; you keep people talking.

Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

I think one of the keys to leadership is recognizing that everybody has gifts and talents. A good leader will learn how to harness those gifts toward the same goal.

Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It's about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others' success, and then standing back and letting them shine.

The most important thing for a director is being able to communicate.

The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players.

A great director or leader knows his people, creates a great team, and then makes a great movie that can influence millions more than the readers of his column.

Managers will tell people what to do, whereas leaders will inspire them to do it, and there are a few things that go into the ability to inspire.

Every actor you work with has a different method, same with the director. You have to figure out what your shared language is and how to best support each other, and also take care of yourself.

Leadership requires a blend of strategy, persuasion, inspiration and motivation. It is based on respect more than fear.

The idea, as a director, is to be able to bring everybody on board and to inspire and give energy to everybody and to explain specific color, specific ambience. I need to be very precise, but I think I'm a better director when I'm more a channeler than a dictator.

Leadership is having a compelling vision, a comprehensive plan, relentless implementation, and talented people working together.

As a leader, you have to have a vision that inspires people around you.

I always love working with other creative talent.

A good leader, in my view, should have a clear vision of the future they want and the society they need to build. They must also have a connection with the people who work for them and be able to mobilise their best energies to create teams where people can be most creative and happy.

What makes a leader great is not the fact that she (or he) has all the answers, but the ability to inspire and empower us to find the answers.

To me, leadership is about encouraging people. It's about stimulating them. It's about enabling them to achieve what they can achieve - and to do that with a purpose.

A good director has to be a captain - he has to work with a lot of people every day.

Every film you work on is different, and that's part of what it's like for anybody who works on a film, is to learn how to work with others. Learn from top to bottom. Actors have to learn how to work with the director and the director has to learn how to work with actors, and that's not just those two departments.

The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.