Quotes
If any of the quotes below pique your interest --
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Leaders, like everyone else, are the sum of their experiences, but, unlike others, they amount to more than the sum, because they make more of their experiences. Bennis, Why Leader's Can't Lead -p.40
Because organizational transformation depends on individual transformation, what these visionaries say about the emerging role of business leadership is pivotal. They offer these words to describe the new leader: servant, enabler, supportive, coach, trustworthy, intuitive, compassionate, sharing, integrity, guide, optimist, respectful, caring, listening, open, clear, community builder, emphatic, conscious, communicating, and balanced. These words provide a stark contrast to the stereotyped perception of the business leader as a privileged controller and commander who, when his organization is successful, personally accepts the credit and garners the rewards. Liebig, Merchants of Vision -pg.225
Social architecture, as we have continually emphasized, provides meaning. The key point is that if an organization is to be transformed, the social architecture must be revamped. The effective leader needs to articulate new values and norms, offer new visions, and use a variety of tools in order to transform, support, and institutionalize new meanings and directions. Bennis & Nanus, Leaders -p.128
It is essential that leaders in corporate and public life remember their societal obligations as well as their organizational ones. Every organization tempts its leaders to become preoccupied with the priorities of the moment at the cost of ignoring the overarching questions that determine the quality of all our lives, such questions as: Is this right? Is it good for our children? Is it good for the planet? Bennis, An Invented Life -p.xv
Unlike yesterday's cookie-cutter hierarchy, each organization must create its own model of what it will take to assure a prosperous future, and it will take real experts to develop that model for each organization. The good news is that the organization already has the experts-their own people. All we have to do is access the wealth of knowledge, creativity, and energy we already have within our people. That is accomplished through Enlightened Leadership. Oakley & Krug, Enlightened Leadership -pg.228
In most vital organizations, there is a common bond of interdependence, mutual interest, interlocking contributions, and simple joy. Part of the art of leadership is to see that this common bond is maintained and strengthened, a task certainly requiring good communication. Just as any relationship requires honest and open communication to stay healthy, so the relationships within corporations improve when information is shared accurately and freely. DePree, Leadership is an Art -pg.101
At the top of the organization, the leadership has to be personalized, because the task at this level is to provide the soft glue that holds this virtual community together. The glue is made up of a sense of common identity, linked to a common purpose and fed by an infectious energy and urgency. Mere words cannot create this glue-it has to be lived. Hesselbein, Goldstein & Beckhard, The Leader of the Future -pg.8
In a world where exponential adaptive change is called for, where what is new today is obsolete tomorrow, we must place an absolute premium on training minds above all. If the minds of leaders are tough, strong, open, resilient, and hungry for positive innovation, true greatness lies ahead. Tough-mindedness takes much more than mental agility. Tenacity, stamina, clarity, discipline, and depth -these are key requisites for the mentally tough executive of tomorrow. Batten, Tough Minded Leadership -pg.x
Leaders must know how to support teams by listening, coordinating, coaching, counseling, training, removing barriers, and resourcefully supporting. They must know how to empower teams by passing on business information; providing time and money for training; giving authority over to those who carry out decisions; and rewarding team performance. Executives must function as leaders who can influence and reinforce teams' values and beliefs by their words and actions. Graham & LeBaron, Horizontal Revolution -pg.8
Change requires self-leadership. The trend of the 1990's is for all of us to have more accountability, to take more control of our lives. Leaders must continually look within to decide what they want, what they value, and what they are willing to be courageous about. Hesselbein, Goldstein & Beckhard, The Leader of the Future-pg.190
The function of leadership is to grow structure, not impose it. The process is organic, the work of a gardener, not a mechanic. Owen, Leadership is -pg.105
"Make no little plans," wrote Daniel Burnham fifty years ago; "they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans," he said, "Aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram, one recorded, will never die but long after we are gone will be a living thing asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty." Greenleaf, On Becoming a Servant-Leader -pg.300
Many leaders spoil the work just as it nears completion. They get eager. They get invested in certain outcomes. They become anxious and make mistakes. This is a time for care and consciousness. Don't do too much. Don't be too helpful. Don't worry about getting credit for having done something. Because the wise leader has no expectations, no outcome can be called a failure. Paying attention, allowing a natural unfolding, and standing back most of the time, the leader sees the event arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. Heider, Tao of Leadership -pg.127
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