Leadership Challenges Quotes

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

I swear to you, sitting a throne is a thousand times harder than winning one.

Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard.

The most perilous moment for a bad government is when it seeks to mend its ways. Only consummate statecraft can enable a king to save his throne when, after a long spell of oppression, he sets out to improve the lot of his subjects.

Many women try to advance in their careers by having all the answers; by being the go-to person for information and advice; or by building expertise in a particular field. However, as they progress, gain broader responsibilities, and grow into leadership roles, they realize that their span of control is too vast to be able to know every answer.

Creating a billion-dollar company is hard, but being a truly great leader is even harder.

The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly.

There is almost nothing more painful for a leader than seeing good people leave a growing organization, whether it's a priest watching a Sunday school teacher walk out the door or a CEO saying goodbye to a co-founder.

The people can never understand why the President does not use his powers to make them behave. Well all the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.

There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new order of things..... Whenever his enemies have occasion to attack the innovator they do so with the passion of partisans, while the others defend him sluggishly so that the innovator and his party alike are vulnerable.

Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it's not that simple... Real-life kings had real-life problems to deal with... My people who are trying to rule don't have an easy time of it. Just having good intentions doesn't make you a wise king.

I think there comes a time with a quarterback, especially when things go a little sideways, that players begin to try to do things a little uncharacteristic of what they've done in the past.

You have an administration which understands America's international responsibilities and interests, but you have a population which is anxious, tired, and doesn't want to bear any burden and pay any price. And that's very difficult for whoever becomes president.

Leadership involves the heavy burden of responsibility, and the fear of getting it wrong can paralyze a leader.

All Presidents start out to run a crusade but after a couple of years they find they are running something less heroic and much more intractable: namely the presidency.

I've definitely grown into the job after that difficult first Test against Pakistan. I'd been captain for the Sri Lanka one-dayers, which hadn't gone well, and all the talk was that I only had that one Test as captain.

I know how to do science. I know how to make things. I don't know how to run a company. Now that's a really tough job.

The issues that cross a president's desk are never easy. The easy questions don't even get to the president.

The definition of success is that the company doesn't miss a beat. Do I love what I do? Oh yeah - I love it more than ever. You've got to have that energy level 24/7. But you've also got to make sure the transition is smooth. Being realistic, most high-tech companies haven't done that well.

Of all the things a leader should fear, complacency heads the list.

Many punishments sometimes, and in some cases, as much discredit a prince as many funerals a physician.

Barack Obama took office in the middle of a massive financial crisis. He was handed a bunch of messes all around the world and at home.

Success comes only for those groups that overcome the all-too-human behavioral tendencies that corrupt teams and breed dysfunctional politics within them.

The extreme scarcity of political leaders of any caliber is owing to the fact that they are called upon to decide at any moment, and in detail, problems which the increased size of societies may well have rendered insoluble.