Henry Cloud Quotes

I wanted the influence. In the end I wasn't very good at being a president. I looked out of the window and thought that the man cutting the lawn actually seemed to have more control over what he was doing.

In a very real way, ownership is the essence of leadership. When you are 'ridiculously in charge,' then you own whatever happens in a company, school, et cetera.

Whether it's a blessing or a curse, it's a fact that we have power. Everyone—friend and enemy—looks to see how we use it, how we treat it, how we keep it.

All leaders share something in common. They feel they are the only ones who can do the job.

Governance is a way of organizing, amplifying, and constraining power.

You know, one of the things I think you understand as president is you're held responsible for everything, but you don't always have control of everything, right?

Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely like exercising authority usually lose it.

The person who manages the state is me.

We are defined by how we use our power.

I am better when I have control. I am not a power freak. But my point is that I need to feel that I can manage the team and have a direct, clear line through to the owners. Once that becomes hazy, for me, there is a problem.

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.

Power should be reserved for weightlifting and boats, and leadership really involves responsibility.

Gotta watch out for directors.

Being a leader doesn't mean you are the guy who runs things.

It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people's lives.

The decisions you make affect a lot of people. You have investors, employees, and customers who all rely on you. Being a leader is a 24-hour-a-day job.

My family comes first, and you have to be in charge to be able to protect that. You have to be the one who says no or you don't have a life, which is what I found out the first time.

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.

To be honest, the fact that people trust you gives you a lot of power over people. Having another person's trust is more powerful than all other management techniques put together.

Nobody is going to delegate a lot of power to a secretary that they can't control.

I always liked the idea of leadership and being a captain.

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.

I think my best work is when I'm kind of in charge.

The key things are about power and about growing up and realizing as you grow up that there are consequences for the choices you make, especially when you get seduced by power.

I believe in delegating power.