Quotes - Leadership (page 4)

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There are three types of leaders: those who make things happen, those that watch things happen; and those who wonder what happened. - Anonymous

Discipline must be imposed, but loyalty must be earned - yet the highest form of discipline exists only where there is mutual loyalty, up and down. - Maj. Gen. Aubrey S. Red Newman

The relationship between officers and men should in no sense be that of superior and inferior, nor that of master and servant, but rather that of teacher and scholar. In fact, it should partake of the nature of the relationship between father and son, to the extent that officers, especially commanding officers, are responsible for the physical, mental, and moral welfare, as well as the discipline and military training of the young men under their command. - Maj. Gen. John A. Lejeune, 1920

If a man who serves indolently and a man who serves well are treated in the same way, the man who serves well may begin to wonder why he does so. - Asakura Toshikage (1428-81)

An officer should never speak ironically or sarcastically to an enlisted man, since the latter does not have a fair chance to answer back. The use of profanity and epithets comes under the same headings. The best argument for a man keeping his temper is that nobody else wants it; and when he voluntary throws it away, he loses a main prop to his own position. - Gen. S. L. A. Marshall, 1950

The typical staff officer is the man past middle life, spare, unwrinkled, intelligent, cold, passive, non-committal; with eyes like a cod-fish, polite in contact but at the same time unresponsive, cool, calm and as damnably composed as a concrete post or a plaster-of-Paris cast; a human petrifaction with a heart of feldspar and without charm or the friendly germ; minus bowels, passion or a sense of humour. Happily they never reproduce and all of them finally go to hell. - Anonymous

Being in the army is like being in the Boy Scouts, except that the Boy Scouts have adult supervision. - Blake Clark

I do not fear an army of lions, if they are led by a lamb.
I do fear an army of sheep, if they are led by a lion.
- Alexander the Great

The commander must establish personal and comradely contact with his men, but without giving away one inch of authority. - Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

Waste no time arguing what a good man should be. Be one. - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

A commander should have a profound understanding of human nature, the knack of smoothing out troubles, the power of winning affection while communicating energy, and the capacity for ruthless determination where require by circumstances. He needs to generate an electrifying current, and to keep a cool head in applying it. - Capt. Sir Basil Liddell Hart

Intelligence, knowledge, and experience are telling prerequisites. Lack of these may, if necessary, be compensated for by a good general staff officer. Strength of character and inner fortitude, however, are decisive factors. The confidence of the men in the ranks rests upon a man's strength of character. - Field Marshal Erich von Mannstein, 1957

One must demand the impossible to ensure that the possible will be achieved. - Field Marshal Count Helmut von Moltke

Discipline can only be obtained when all the officers are imbued with the sense of their awful obligation to their men and to their country that they cannot tolerate negligence. Officers who fail to correct errors or to praise excellence are valueless in peace and dangerous misfits in war. - Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.

You must be able to underwrite the honest mistakes of your subordinates if you wish to develop their initiative and experience. - Gen. Bruce C. Clarke

My confidence in you is total. Our cause is just! Now you must be the thunder and lightning of Desert Storm. May God be with you, your loved ones at home, and our country. - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, January 1991

Just as the diamond requires three properties for its formation--carbon, heat, and pressure--successful leaders require the interaction of three properties--character, knowledge, and application. Like carbon to the diamond, character is the basic quality of the leader. But as carbon alone does not create a diamond, neither can character alone create a leader. The diamond needs heat. Man needs knowledge, study, and preparation. The third property, pressure--acting in conjunction with carbon and heat--forms the diamond. Similarly, one's character, attended by knowledge, blooms through application to produce a leader. - General Edward C. Meyer, Former US Army Chief of Staff

When you are commanding, leading [soldiers] under conditions where physical exhaustion and privations must be ignored, where the lives of [soldiers] may be sacrificed, then, the efficiency of your leadership will depend only to a minor degree on your tactical ability. It will primarily be determined by your character, your reputation, not much for courage-which will be accepted as a matter of course-but by the previous reputation you have established for fairness, for that high-minded patriotic purpose, that quality of unswerving determination to carry through any military task assigned to you. - General of the Army George C. Marshall, Speaking to officer candidates in September, 1941

Readiness is the best way of truly taking care of soldiers. - Former Sergeant Major of the Army, Richard A. Kidd

When you're first sergeant, you're a role model whether you know it or not. You're a role model for the guy that will be in your job. Not next month or next year, but ten years from now. Every day soldiers are watching you and deciding if you are the kind of first sergeant they want to be. - An Army First Sergeant, 1988

A man does not have himself killed for a few halfpence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify the man. - Napoleon Bonaparte

Soldiers do what they are told to do. It's leadership that's the key. Young men and women join the Army; if they're with competent, confident, capable leaders they turn into good soldiers. - Sergeant Major of the Army Robert E. Hall

Good NCOs are not just born-they are groomed and grown through a lot of hard work and strong leadership by senior NCOs. - Former Sergeant Major of the Army, William A. Connelly

To get the best out of your men, they must feel that you are their real leader and must know that they can depend upon you. - General of the Armies John J. Pershing

Soldiers need leaders who know how to fight and how to make the right decisions. - General Carl F. Vuono, Former Army Chief of Staff

Making decisions, exercising command, managing, administering-those are the dynamics of our calling. Responsibility is its core. - General Harold K. Johnson, Former Army Chief of Staff

The creative leader is one who will rewrite doctrine, employ new weapons systems, develop new tactics and who pushes the state of the art. - John O. Marsh, Jr., Former Secretary of the Army

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

A good soldier, whether he leads a platoon or an army, is expected to look backward as well as forward; but he must think only forward. - General of the Army Douglas MacArthur

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership. - Gen. Colin Powell

When a soldier looks up on the battlefield he will not see his first sergeant, sergeant major, company commander, battalion commander .... he won't even see his platoon sergeant! He WILL see HIS sergeant .... the squad leader, crew chief, team leader, tank commander .... and this NCO will principally provide the leadership, advice, counsel, and firm and reassuring direction on that battlefield. - Gen. Paul F. Gorman (US Army)

When you join your organization you will find there a willing body of men who ask from you nothing more than the qualities that will command their respect, their loyalty, and their obedience.... Commissions will not make you leaders; they will merely make you officers. They will place you in a position where you can become leaders if you possess the proper attributes. - Maj Christian Bach, address "Leadership." 1918

The beginning of leadership - is a battle for the hearts and minds of men. - Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery

Leadership is the knack of getting somebody to do something you want done because he wants to do it. - General Dwight D. Eisenhower

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