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25 Of My Favorite Leadership Quotes



All year, I've been collecting my favorite quotes about leadership from Twitter.  When the year ends, I'll publish the list.

In the meantime, among the thousands of tweets and retweets on Twitter about leadership during 2012 these 25 were my favorites. A mix of advice from some unknown individuals along with many from leadership book authors and famous leadership experts, and a few from past U.S. presidents and current-day athletes.

Great leaders know the power of asking questions.

Lead with your heart, not just your head.

Learn to let go of fear and embrace the unknown.

People are much more impressed by your potential than by your track record.

Smart leaders use the power of stories whenever they have important messages to convey.

To be effective, leaders have to close the conversational gap with their employees.

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency -- Arnold Glasow

Managers assert drive and control to get things done; leaders pause to discover new ways of being and achieving -- Kevin Cashman

It doesn't matter where you're coming from. All that matters is where you are going to -- Stephen Covey

Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance -- Samuel Johnson

Strength doesn't come from what we can do. It comes from overcoming what we once thought we couldn't -- Rikki Roberts

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order -- Alfred North Whitehead

The most powerful predictable people builders are praise and encouragement -- Brian Tracy

Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon them and to let them know that and trust them -- Booker T. Washington

Ask because you want to know. Listen because you want to grow -- Mark Scharenbroich

If you want execution, hail only success. If you want creativity, hail risk, and remain neutral about success -- Marcus Buckingham

To get the best coaching outcomes, always have your 1-on-1's on your employee's turf not yours. In your office the truth hides -- Marcus Buckingham

The three common characteristics of best companies -- they care, they have fun, they have high performance expectations -- Brad Hams

The one thing that's common to all successful people: They make a habit of doing things that unsuccessful people don't like to do -- Michael Phelps

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit -- Harry S. Truman

The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask -- Peter Drucker

Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself. It's about advancing your team -- John C. Maxell

People buy into the leader, then the vision -- John C. Maxell

Great leaders have courage, tenacity and patience -- Bill McBean

What quotes have you seen on Twitter this year that you recommend I add to my 2013 list?

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