Quotes & Sayings About Business Leadership

Digital age of business and world shall move up from apathy, to sympathy, to empathy. — Pearl Zhu

Inspiring leadership communication is not about great oratory or great charisma; rather it is about getting others to believe in themselves and believe in your cause, and then achieve more than they thought was possible. — Kevin Murray

Your personal growth, how you show up, and the ways you lead ultimately determine the success of your business and your life. — David J. Greer

When you empower your people, your business will be grow. — Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

Inspirational leadership connects to a highly motivated workforce which, in turn, means inspirational results — Nigel Crouch

Rather than having small smart tricks to get by, focus on holding on and persevering. — Jack Ma

Don't even trust that you are able to unify what everyone is thinking; it is impossible — Jack Ma

We live in a time where government is not a leadership thing, it's more a business that's out there and running riot, so I guess the people have to go out there and say stuff. — Yahoo Serious

30% of all people will never believe you. Do not allow your colleagues and employees to work for you. Instead, let them work for a common goal. — Jack Ma

Goodrich is a perfect addition to our Hamilton Sundstrand business. And with a strong portfolio of complementary products, Goodrich also brought great leadership balance, great opportunities to provide more integrated systems. — Louis R. Chenevert

But such people (Moderate Conservatives) aren't liberal. What they are is corporate. Their habits and opinions owe far more to the standards of courtesy and taste that prevail within the white-collar world than they do to Franklin Roosevelt and the United Mine Workers. We live in a time, after all, when hard-nosed bosses compose awestruck disquisitions on the nature of 'change,' punk rockers dispense leadership secrets, shallow profundities about authenticity sell luxury cars, tech billionaires build rock'n'roll musuems, management theorists ponder the nature of coolness, and a former lyricist fro the Grateful Dead hail the dawn of New Economy capitalism from the heights of Davos. Coversvatives may not understand why, but business culture had melded with counterculture for reasons having a great deal to do with business culture's usual priority - profit. — Thomas Frank

Think continally about what you want, not about the things you fear. — Brian Tracy

It's through diverse opinions and perspectives that a dynamic organisation can drive innovation and create its competitive advantage. — Craig Dent

Employee engagement is an investment we make for the privilege of staying in business. — Ian Hutchinson

For individuals and organizations alike, a reputation is far easier to destroy than it is to build. — Andrew Griffin

Joel Bakan, author of The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power argues that if corporations have 'person hood' under the law, then it makes sense to question what kind of people they are. He posits that corporations behave with all the classical signs of sociopathy: they are inherently amoral, they elevate their own interests above all others', and they disregard moral and sometimes legal limits on their behavior in pursuit of their own advancement. Organizations of this type would thrive under the leadership of people who have the same traits: sociopaths. — M.E. Thomas

There are no perfect decisions, only excellent applications. — Todd Stocker

Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.
(Harvard Business School definition of leadership) — Sheryl Sandberg

Confidence believes you are able. Competence knows you are able. — Lolly Daskal

You can't dominate a network with old-style leadership.

But, you can emerge, with the network's consent, as one of its leaders, regardless of your formal position or job title. — Phil Dourado

I'm OK with firing people when they fuck up, but canning them when they've done nothing wrong - that's painful. [on the layoffs needed after 9/11 hit the business] — Marcus Samuelsson

Scout out competitors' websites. Everything your competitors think is important or relevant usually exists on their website. — John Manning

Although individuals need not be well-rounded, teams should be. — Tom Rath

A goal is not just an object on a pitch; it is also a milestone on your journey of excellence. — Onyi Anyado

What business needs now is exactly what women are able to provide, and at the very time when women are surging into the work force. But perhaps even more important than work force numbers is the fact that women
who began this sweeping entry in the mid-seventies
are just now beginning to assume positions of leadership, which give them the scope to create and reinforce the trends toward change. The confluence is fortunate, an alignment that gives women unique opportunities to assist in the continuing transformation of the workplace ... — Sally Helgesen

Employees who are not engaged have untapped potential that sours like a perishable item. — Kevin E. Phillips

Wrong location? Move it. Wrong people? Replace 'em. Wrong industry? I don't believe it. I've got a company in the machine tools industry, and we're doing great. I'd happily go into the coal business. It's how you look at something and how it's managed that make the difference. — Ken Hendricks

Creating the culture of burnout is opposite to creating a culture of sustainable creativity. This is something that needs to be taught in business schools. This mentality needs to be introduced as a leadership and performance-enhancing tool. — Arianna Huffington

What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his or her strengths - and can call on the right strength at the right time. — Tom Rath

Just stamping out anti-science and bad science will eliminate an enormous amount of business waste — Paul Gibbons

While mistakes may be local, in today's connected world embarrassment is global — Gyan Nagpal

Knowing that organisations are at the core of our society, it then becomes clear that humanity needs these organisations to prosper. There, the creation of a transparent, accessible, dynamic and meritocratic organisation model can generate sustainable organisations and as a result, a sustainable society — Miguel Reynolds Brandao

Everybody starts small. We all begin life as a single cell. Every business starts as one person with an idea. How fast you go, how far you get, is in your hands. The bigger your vision, the bigger your achievement will be. Will you stumble on the way? Perhaps, but we cannot let fear keep us small. We have to be brave to be big. — Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

A good businessman knows how to make a profit. An engineer makes sure it runs well. We need more leaders who are task oriented. — Phil Mitchell

Asking questions will get you the performance you are after far more than dictating demands. — Dan James

Culture is what happens when the managers are not around. — Pearl Zhu

In the professional world of leadership ambition and potential are the most excessive commodities. — Noel DeJesus

The key difference between captain and coach? The latter's opportunities for influence come at moments when play isn't happening, — Carolyn Taylor

Dr. Prem, a world renowned speaker delivers flawless speeches on various topics including leadership, public speaking, business management and global healthcare. Dr. Prem is well informed and his speeches are well researched. — David Nelson

Professional accountability is a good thing. Without it, excellence is merely a pipe dream and even average performance isn't a realistic expectation. — Lee Ellis

Many in business feel they have to live up to a machismo archetype of the big-swinging-dick business leader — Jon Miller

Too many of the women lack critical assignments that will give 'star' visibility in their companies, even though they are considered high potential," she said. "Such assignments enable a woman to prove herself by showcasing her skills, tenacity, leadership, and making a difference to the company's bottom line. — Betty Liu

The most unreliable thing in this world is human relationships. — Jack Ma

Small business people have gotten us out of nearly all modern recessions - not by waiting for others to fix things or turning to government, but rather by applying leadership, inventiveness, creativity and originality. — Oliver DeMille

God has always been about the business of shattering expectations, and in our culture, the standards of leadership are extroverted. It perfectly follows the biblical trend that God would choose the unexpected and the culturally "unfit" - like introverts - to lead his church for the sake of greater glory. — Adam S. McHugh

The best way to kill competition is to partner it — Siddharth Joshi

Move away from the mid-set that the fulfillment of the organization's mission, vision, and strategic plan is only the work of leaders. — Sue Tetzlaff

Everyone is a business person. You must be in the business of managing your time. Managing your time means managing your life. Good time managers are good life managers, and vice versa. — Archibald Marwizi

To make a decision, all you need is authority. To make a good decision, you also need knowledge, experience, and insight. — Denise Moreland

For associations to emerge healthy and strong, they must re-engage with their members around the heart-centered why of why they exist, leverage current leadership, and build future leadership while they integrate the balance of technology and face-to-face experiences. — Holly Duckworth

Procrastination at the start and sometimes during the project meant there wasn't time to execute the plans well enough. — Graham Speechley

Imagine going to work every day to do only and exactly what you love!! All the work gets done because of the abundant diversity of your team. Different skills, interests and talents are woven together into a whole that is much greater than the sum of the parts! — Denise Moreland

I believe that leaders and leadership teams working together in a proper design will run the business more effectively than by hierarchical, command-and-control managing. But I can't prove that. And there are no models. — Marvin Bower

Manager! Have brain - use it! — Gerry Geek

It's alright to be Goliath but always act like David. — Phil Knight

Followers have a very clear picture of what they want and need from the most influential leaders in their lives: trust, compassion, stability, and hope — Tom Rath

Perhaps the ultimate test of a leader is not what you are able to do in the here and now - but instead what continues to grow long after you're gone — Tom Rath

The world of the 90s and beyond will belong to managers or those who make the numbers dance, as we used to say, or those who are conversant with all the business jargon we used to sound smart. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders
people who not only have an enormous amount of energy but who can energize those whom they lead. — John Welch

An entrepreneurial spirit makes you someone who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business enterprise, talent or calling to become an agent of change. — Archibald Marwizi

Voters - here's the real challenge: we don't need empty promises made by politicians whose only goal in life is to get elected or re-elected. We need leaders with attributes that qualify them to lead us through the difficult challenges we're facing. — Lee Ellis

Diversity is a very popular business topic today while the negative side of diversity, discrimination, remains a touchy and sensitive topic. Even in organisations which follow the letter of the law in terms of not discriminating against any individuals, it is common for people to show prejudice and bias...Have the courage to stand out from your colleagues by being very open to and comfortable with all kinds of diversity amongst your colleagues and stakeholders. When you sense someone is being ignored or marginalized spend time with them and bring them into discussions encouraging them to speak up as needed. — Nigel Cumberland

In business, integrity is just as important as in any of the great public offices ... but I believe one of the first and fundamental obligations of competent business leadership is above all to protect the reputation and integrity of the business - to that degree the integrity of the business is the integrity of the leader. — Peter Cosgrove

Adopt and change before any major trends or changes. — Jack Ma

A lot of young people just starting out unskilled, as all Americans do when they're born here, come to this country, and so the business community is for immigration. Big businesses, small businesses, high-tech, low-tech, the communities of faith, and the Republican leadership. — Grover Norquist

Management works in the system; leadership works on the system. — Stephen Covey

Working together as a team helps build a cohesive organization. — Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

It is amazing, the number of business executives and senior leaders who get to be appointed and elevated to positions of authority on the basis of technical competences whilst lacking essential grooming on basic good manners and customs of conduct that must come from the home training process. — Archibald Marwizi

The opportunities that everyone cannot see are the real opportunities. — Jack Ma

You can win in business by playing checkers until someone sneaks in one night after you've closed for the day and flips the board. — Mark Miller

We're going to see leadership emerge as the most important element of business - the attribute that is highest in demand and shortest in supply. — Tom Peters

Find the right people, not the best people. — Jack Ma

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. — Mahatma Gandhi

Our sense of "open" is that the authority to make decisions about that gets distributed based on merit and understanding and participation and leadership, not solely on employment or a title or a business plan. Technical colleagues will define "open" as "open standards," "interoperable" - you can find it, search it, cut and paste it, view source, mix and match - all those things that we associate with text on the Web, that you can continue to do that with audio and video and whatever's next. — Mitchell Baker

It is common understanding that communication is at the heart of any organisation. So, why have organisational models not evolved accordingly? To truly leverage the potential of this information age, we need to rethink and redesign organisations — Miguel Reynolds Brandao

You make the plans - otherwise you will die thinking it is not possible to plan to have time for work, for exercise, for sleep, for relaxation, for recreation, for eating, for entertainment, for love, for family, for spirituality, for friends, for personal reflection, for personal development, for business, for charity all in one life! — Archibald Marwizi

To become a distinguished entrepreneur, you need to have an undeniable, unquestionable and unmovable passion for your vision. — Onyi Anyado

Every morning I look in the mirror and remind myself: "No one owes you sh*t!" In this way, I am never disappointed. Never placing blame. — Brandi L. Bates

Don't buy into the campaign that people don't like change. We are built for it. — Stacy Feiner

We all know business financial performance improves when more women are in senior levels of management and leadership. — Beth Brooke

Independent and stubborn natures, such as are particularly common among men of learning, do not readily bow to another's will and for the most part only accept his leadership grudgingly. But when Lorentz is in the presidential chair, an atmosphere of happy cooperation is invariably created, however much those present may differ in their aims and habits of thought. The secret of this success lies not only in his swift comprehension of people and things and his marvelous command of language, but above all in this, that one feels that his whole heart is in the business at hand, and that when he is at work, he has room for nothing else in his mind. Nothing disarms the recalcitrant so much as this. — Albert Einstein

CIOs need to be IT evangelists and learn to sell, speak business. — Pearl Zhu

It is the leader's job to lead by example and enforce the values and the behaviors to set the culture for any company or work group. Show me a company in rapid decline, and I will show you someone in charge who doesn't give a _. — Beth Ramsay

There is an interplay between great leadership, events, trends, the organization, the people in it, the market 'out there' that goes far beyond one person exercising their will over others.

That's not what leadership is any more. — Phil Dourado

What we need is political leadership which can give guidance to the development of global governance. We need business leadership which goes beyond shareholder value to understand the needs and fears of other stakeholders and their communities. — Juan Somavia

If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything. — Tom Rath

A Board can be harmonized through leadership humility, insightful business understanding, trustful culture, and learning agility. — Pearl Zhu

It doesn't matter to me that my leaving will cost you money. It doesn't matter that my space will take time to fill. What matters is that I'm happy and if you're not willing to invest in me, then I'm willing to cost you money. — Osayi Emokpae Lasisi

Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard!" he said, and died. — Business And Leadership Publishing

What starting your company means: you will lose your stable income, your right to apply for a leave of absence, and your right to get a bonus. However, it also means your income will no longer be limited, you will use your time more effectively, and you will no longer need to beg for favours from people anymore. — Jack Ma

I don't run a non-profit. There are lots of non-profits in America - in Detroit, parts of Wall Street, etc. I run a not for profit. We're a business. The only difference is that instead of selling soap or sneakers, we sell hope and leadership. — Nancy Lublin

Practice transforms a skill into an art — Siddharth Joshi

Bezos personifies a new breed of executive that arose with the emergence of the game-changing technologies in the 1980s and 1990s ... a 'productive narcissist' ... These executives have big enough egos to make up seemingly random rules of business leadership. However, unlike other narcissists, they get the job done. — Richard L. Brandt

I was 21 and had spent the last few years in Stanford University Engineering School at California. Many people advised me to take up a nice, cushy job rather than face the challenges of running a hydrogenated oil business. Looking back, I am glad I decided to take charge instead. Essentially leadership begins from within. It is a small voice that tells you where to go when you feel lost. If you believe in that voice, you believe in yourself. — Azim Premji

If you want to break through to higher levels of performance, you must allow yourself to be restructured. — William A. Adams

Vision without an Action is Illusion. Action without a Vision is Confusion. — Sunny John

In a leadership role in Iraq and in running my own business, what I've learned is if you don't listen, you're going to strike out. You're going to fail miserably. The people you work with have got to know you're engaged and you're listening. — Brad Wenstrup

A leader should be a visionary and have more foresight than an employee. — Jack Ma

The cornerstone of effective leadership is self-mastery. — Patricia Aburdene

If all the businesses in town are run like country businesses, You are going to have a country town — William Faulkner

As president, I will stand up to the great human rights tests of our time - in China, Russia, and the Middle East. We must send a signal to our allies and adversaries that America is back in the leadership business. — Carly Fiorina