John McWhorter Quotes

No one is asking for an Oprah in Chief. Anyhow, Obama is too chilly by nature ever to be convincing as a human care package.

My view was that the campaign had been a sacred thing, that it had been a real compact, because I was there and I saw the connection that Clinton made with people, and the connection that they made with him.

Voters like to fall in love with presidential candidates, at least a little bit.

I admire Obama, and I like him. I think he has a great deal of talent. He should be applauded for his eloquence and for his ability to motivate millions.

Passion creates energy and magnetically pulls co-workers and customers into a shared vision, and it is exceptionally strong when linked with a leader's values.

The leader finds the dream and then the people. The people find the leader and then the dream.

One cannot deny that if a person has the energy to get you interested and excited, then that is half the battle won, like all the great leaders had this quality.

If you can't force or are unwilling to force your people to follow you, with or without threats, you are not a leader.

You know you're a good leader when people follow you out of curiosity.

It's often said that leadership is the art of getting people to do what you want, and making them think it's what they want. This captures a lot of what Abraham Lincoln did.

It's entirely to do with personality, I think. There are good directors who talk a lot, bad directors who talk a lot, and good directors who don't say much and vice-versa. It just depends on whether people respond to that personality and whether people have a willingness to do something for them.

You have achieved excellence as a leader when people will follow you anywhere if only out of curiosity.

I think I'm realizing I've always been able to move people, just getting people to talk.

So I think (Obama) definitely has convinced people that he stands for change and for hope, and I can't wait to see what he stands for.

The greatest thing to me about Obama is not the individual, it does not have to do with Obama himself - it's really about the people who have elected Obama. It demonstrates that people are ready for change, and I think Obama knows that, because he really came up from the people, the young generation especially. He motivated a lot of African Americans who never voted before to go and vote.

I know Donald's [Trump] trying very hard to plant doubts about it, but I hope the people out there understand: This election's really up to you. It's not about us so much as it is about you and your families and the kind of country and future you want. So I sure hope you will get out and vote as though your future depended on it, because I think it does.

People above you, they never want to share power with you. Why you look to them? They give you nothing. People below you, you give them hope, you give them respect, they give you power, cause they don't think they have any, so they don't mind giving it up.

I'm passionate, I'm driven at my job and I also am compassionate with people. We all think we can save somebody that we love.

When I see people of my likeness, or who are somebody that I feel connected to, doing something great, I fee like I can do it. It gives me some hope and vision.

The rallying call to people is to give them hope. When you have hope, that's huge.

The romance is essential. I love the love. I don't love just people struggling. I love what people are struggling for. That moves me. I love watching people be loving, and I find it enchanting, magical and transporting. It's one of the reasons that I go to the movies, and that's why I like putting it in movies.

The first and last task of aleader is to keep hope alive.

When you get that opportunity to be honest and open with somebody, for the first time, and share things about yourself that you haven't been able to share before, that you might be scared of or ashamed about, that's really exhilarating, and I think that's something that people will really identify with.

I've done far too many things that I felt were going to be genius that weren't and I've done some things that I didn't think were going to be much that really connected with people. So expectations are left at the door. But hope exists all the time.

A leader's role is not to control people or stay on top of things, but rather to guide, energize and excite.