Frances Hesselbein Quotes

The leader for today and the future will be focused on how to be - how to develop quality, character, mind-set, values, principles, and courage.

In a president, character is everything. A president doesn't have to be brilliant... He doesn't have to be clever; you can hire clever... You can hire pragmatic, and you can buy and bring in policy wonks. But you cant buy courage and decency, you cant rent a strong moral sense. A president must bring those things with him. He needs to have, in that much maligned word, but a good one nonetheless, a vision of the future he wishes to create.. But a vision is worth little if a president doesn't have the character - the courage and heart - to see it through.

In the worst of times the best among us never lose their moral compass, and that is how they emerge relatively unscathed.

All these boundaries - Africa, Asia, Malaysia, America - are set by men. But you don't have to look at boundaries when you are looking at a man - at the character of a man. The question is: What do you stand for? Are you a follower, or are you a leader?

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.

Practice self-awareness, self-evaluation, and self-improvement. If we are aware that our manners - language, behavior, and actions - are measured against our values and principles, we are able to more easily embody the philosophy, leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.

There was no quality Robert Kennedy admired more than courage.

If I could have my kids be great when the lights are on, whatever the moment is, to be accountable and then fix it, they're going to be fine.

Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling

There are themes that somehow stir me and that I find very interesting. They're themes that deal with leadership, the nature of bravery and courage, and how to define those.

Leadership is much less about what you do, and much more about who you are.

But rules cannot substitute for character.

While you, the leader, can teach many things, character is not taught easily to adults who arrive at your desk lacking it. Be cautious about taking on reclamation projects regardless of the talent they may possess. Have the courage to make character count among the qualities you seek in others.

The public wants elected officials who have character. The public wants elected officials who are willing to stand up and say things, even if they don't agree with them.

Leadership consists of character and strategy. If you can't have both, opt for character.

What we know matters but who we are matters more.

To say America can have strong leadership without strong character is to say we can get water without the wet.

To be a great leader, first become a great person.

A great leader has brains, vision, soul, values and a heart.

In the end, leaders are defined by the convictions they hold.

Circumstances don't create character. They reveal character.

Character in many ways is everything in leadership. It is made up of many things, but I would say character is really integrity.

Good men who exercise power are really the most fascinating of all people.

Leadership is about doing what you know is right - even when a growing din of voices around you is trying to convince you to accept what you know to be wrong.

If you can maintain that integrity in whatever you do, you can't go wrong. That's what I tell my kids, anyway.