John C. Maxwell

When the leader lacks confidence, the followers lack commitment.

Success is…knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.

People who use time wisely spend it on activities that advance their overall purpose in life.

Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful.

The best leaders are humble enough to realize their victories depend upon their people.

The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.

And give… give more credit to others and don’t assume they’re mean until you know they’re actually mean.

Leaders, true leaders, take responsibility for the success of the team, and understand that they must also take responsibility for the failure.

A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

The best leaders are humble enough to realize their victories depend upon their people.

The art of leadership is a serious matter. One must not lag behind a movement, because to do so is to become isolated from the masses. But one must not rush ahead, for to rush ahead is to lose contact with the masses. He who wished to lead a movement must conduct a fight on two fronts–against those who lag behind and those who rush ahead.

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.

The challenge of leadership is to create change and facilitate growth.

The very essence of leadership is having vision.

But real leadership comes from the quiet nudging of an inner voice. It comes from realizing that the time has come to move beyond waiting to doing.

I think people should be nicer to each other

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

I have a very simple rule when it comes to management: hire the best people from your competitors, pay them more than they were earning, and give them bonuses and incentives based on their performance. That’s how you build a first-class operation.

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.