John W. Gardner Quotes

The ablest and most effective leaders do not hold to a single style; they may be highly supportive in personal relations when that is needed, yet capable of a quick, authoritative decision when the situation requires it.

I would assert that highly effective leaders are made more than they're born. Every leader I know who's been highly effective has worked hard at it, and they've been students of it. The more you're a student of leadership, the more you figure out what works for you and the more effective you're going to be.

I'm not sure leaders listen enough, especially to their people. And I've always thought in everything I've tried to do in my life, in the jobs I've had, is that if we can turn our transmitters off and our receivers on more often, we're better leaders and we know more of what is going on and therefore we can lead more effectively.

You don't become an effective leader by default.

Leadership is not about being a nice person or not a nice person.

Effective team leaders adjust their style to provide what the group can't provide for itself.

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born.

Putin is a better leader than Obama, because Obama's not a leader, so he's certainly doing a better job than Obama is, and that's all.

Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.

There is a big difference between being a leader and actually leading.

I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time.

The strength of any organization is a direct result of the strength of its leaders.

Those who are not true leaders will just affirm people at their own immature level.

Whether there are innately female leadership styles... is not really the right question. It is more important to ask why there has been so little attention paid to women leaders over the years as well as why the styles of leading more often exhibited by women are particularly useful at this critical moment in history.

I think that you can't choose leadership. You have to deal with the leadership that the people respond to.

Without organization and leadership toward a realistic goal, there is no chance of realizing more than a small percentage of your potential.

I often say that leadership is deeply personal and inherently collective. That's a paradox that effective leaders have to embrace.

Without leadership, command is a hollow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogance.

Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth.

The more varied the environments in which you exercise your leadership gift, the stronger that gift will become. You will become a far more effective leader.

It is no easy task to lead men. But it is easy enough to drive them.

The practice of leadership is not the same as the exercise of power.

Poor leaders push us towards the goal. Great leaders guide us through the journey.

Leadership is different from management, but not for the reasons most people think.

Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less...titles don't have much value when it comes to leading. True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned, it comes only from influence, and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned.