Don’t blame the boss. He has enough problems.
A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.
A great leader has to be flexible, holding his ground on the major principles but finding room for compromises that can bring people together. A great leader has to be savvy at negotiations so we don’t drown every bill in pork barrel bridges to nowhere. I know how to stand my ground – but I also know that Republicans and Democrats need to find common ground to stand on as well.
When the leader lacks confidence, the followers lack commitment.
If you wouldn’t follow yourself, why should anyone else?
The best leaders are humble enough to realize their victories depend upon their people.
I think people should be nicer to each other
And give give more credit to others and don’t assume they’re mean until you know they’re actually mean.
The challenge of leadership is to create change and facilitate growth.
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.
As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.
Leaders who are effective are leaders who are disciplined in their daily lives.
You don’t reward failure by promoting those responsible for it, because all you get is more failure.
Everything rises and falls on leadership.
Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.
Don’t necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.
Rule a kingdom as though you were cooking a small fish – don’t overdo it.
It’s easy to demonise people, you’re usually wrong about it, people are nicer than you think.
I feel like the thing we can do is celebrate people doing great work and create more cultural momentum and awareness that this is an important thing in the world. So when the next economic crisis hits and people are talking about where to cut from the budget, science isn’t the thing.
Your performance depends on your people. Select the best, train them and back them. When errors occur, give sharper guidance. If errors persist or if the fit feels wrong, help them move on. The country cannot afford amateur hour in the White House.
Most great leaders in history that I’ve studied always need to get as wide a range of opinions as possible so that they can have sufficient information to make the right decisions.