Mark Esper Quotes

Grown men do not need leaders.

I own 100% of everything because I like to control what I do.

I have only one counsel for you - be master.

Those who cannot think or take responsibility for themselves need, and clamor for, a leader.

We're doing what we want to do, and that's why the kids respect us.

I like being in charge. I like being able to control my own destiny and ideas.

I would not be a Moses to lead you into the Promised Land, because if I could lead you into it, someone else could lead you out of it.

In things which we know, everyone will trust us ... and we may do as we please, and no one will like to interfere with us; and we are free, and masters of others; and these things will be really ours, for we shall turn them to our good.

If you're going to give people authority and hold them responsible and ultimately accountable for their performance, you've got to get out of the way.

If you're a quarterback, you want everything on your shoulders. You want to be the one to make the decisions.

I will lead my people by the hand along the road until their feet are sure and they know the way. Then they may choose for themselves and rule themselves. Then my work will be done.

You have to enable and empower people to make decisions independent of you. As I've learned, each person on a team is an extension of your leadership; if they feel empowered by you they will magnify your power to lead.

Let your children go if you want to keep them.

We gain freedom when we have paid the full price.

If we wish to free ourselves from enslavement, we must choose freedom and the responsibility this entails.

Leadership is something you earn, something you're chosen for. You can't come in yelling, 'I'm your leader!' If it happens, it's because the other guys respect you.

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.

He did not care which direction the car was travelling, so long as he was in the driver’s seat.

Now the power is in your hands!

When you empower people you sign up for a life of uncertainty and change.

I give people a huge amount of rope, and then I hold them accountable for the rope.

People entrust me with the responsibility of actualizing our shared values and, that said, I'm not in the business of going to try to convert people and getting their buy-in. I just do the work.

I need to have a great deal of control and the ability to share my control with my collaborators and grant them the freedom and the quality of work I think these people deserve. If I don't have those elements, I walk away.

Coach Boeheim, he's really not like a lot of coaches. We don't do shoot-arounds, we don't have curfews. So I think he teaches you how to be a man and how to be responsible for yourself.

Anytime the coach gives you the ball and some encouragement, you get a sense of freedom.