Inspiring Leadership Quotes

Most great leaders are also great communicators. Great leaders have learned how to persuade so their objectives can be reached. The most powerful device to persuade is story. Stating facts and figures is not memorable. Emotionally connecting your audience to your idea through story will move them.

The only way to lead people is to show them a future: a leader is a dealer in hope.

We will have to learn to lead people rather then to contain them.

The most creative director I have worked with is Mani Ratnam.

Leadership is communicating people's worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it themselves.

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

But the question we should ask ourselves is, who is the next visionary leader of America? How do we have the aspiration and inspire Americans to reach their highest level? We need a president that does so.

Mussolini will be a great thing not only for Italy but for all of us if he succeeds. It is his inspiration, his determination, his constant toil that has literally rejuvenated Italy ...

The best leaders lift people up versus tear people down.

There may never be another Madiba. But instead of waiting for the next Nelson Mandela to emerge, those whom he universally inspired are now looking to themselves and each other to build their own dream together.

What I really value in Angela Merkel is that she has never tried to tap the brakes on my élan, my enthusiasm. She tells me: I'm not going to play the role of the person who has already experienced and seen everything.

When you say 'I want to be an inspiring leader,' the operative phrase is 'I want.' This is inherently me-centered and self serving whether or not you recognise it. What you are really saying is 'I want to get people to do what I would like them to.' Perhaps they don't want to do that. So you have to somehow get them there.

Learning and leadership go together. Too much credit goes to me for what we have achieved at Virgin but the successes happen from working and learning with some of the world's most inspiring and inspired people.

While a good leader sustains momentum, a great leader increases it.

I know firsthand the complexities of leading an enterprise through business and technology transformation. It takes intense focus, a strong drive, and a clearly communicated vision to inspire and take an organization from where they are, to where they need to be - or where they want to go.

A modern hero should … think as well as act and should inspire Americans with a forward-looking set of values.

If you are a model to the Empire, then constant virtue will not be wanting [to the people].

Leaders attract potential leaders.

The best leaders realize their success depends on their people.

It's through a leader's actions - what he or she does and says on a daily basis - that the essence of great leadership becomes apparent.

Leadership isn't about simply being in charge and treating your people like soldiers and barking orders. Leadership is sharing your knowledge and your direction so that others grow and reach their potential.

Polls are no substitute for leadership because, at its very essence, leadership is about giving people what they don't already have - a sense of vision, inspiration, or even an adequate grasp of a particular subject.

The defining character of Steve Jobs isn't his genius, it isn't his talent, it isn't his success. It's his love. That's why crowds came to see him. You could feel that. It sounds ridiculous to talk about love when you are making a gadget. But Steve loved his work, he loved the products he produced, and it was palpable. He communicated that love through bits of steel and plastic.

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

Bob Beaudine challenges you to think differently. His unique approach to life and business has helped elevate many careers.