Understanding Leadership – A Resource

Leadership is a broad topic.  Rather than posting a blog I’ve put together some leadership resources that I hope you will find of value.  What follows is a small collection of quotations, definitions, theories and resources on what it means to be a leader and developing the quality of leadership.

Leadership definitions

The process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. – Wikipedia

Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential.  – Warren Bennis

The process of influencing the behavior of other people toward group goals in a way that fully respects their freedom.  – Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester

Leadership resources

The Leadership Wheel – Five Steps for Achieving Individual and Organizational Greatness by C. Clinton Sidle

Thank you to Yvonne T. at Manpower for suggesting this excellent book.  There is a great assessment in the book to help identify where we sit in terms of learning, change and personal effectiveness.  I have this assessment as an Excel file.  Let me know if you would like to have it (you need a copy of the book to understand the results and the opportunities).

Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani

Excellent read on leadership principles in practice.  Rudy applies years of leadership theory and learning as the events of 9/11 unfolded on the city of New York.  Highly recommended reading.

 

 

 

Leadership quotations

“If you do not know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.” – Henry Kissinger

 “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor. That sums up the progress of an artful leader.” – Max DePree

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Charisma becomes the undoing of leaders. It makes them inflexible, convinced of their own infallibility, unable to change.” – Peter F. Drucker

“Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.” – Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” -  Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Management versus leadership

Managers make sure we’re doing things right.  Leaders ensure we’re doing the right things.

“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” – Stephen R. Covey

“You manage things; you lead people.” – Grace Murray Ho 

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John F. Kennedy

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.