“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
Leadership is critical and essential in everything we do. We see leadership in action everywhere — in our homes; in sports; at work; in our businesses; in our communities; in our countries; and globally in the world.
Recently, I read an article by Kevin Kruse on What Is Leadership?
Kevin, author of Great Leaders Have No Rules, defines leadership as follows:
Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.
He goes on to point out the following key elements of this definition:
- Leadership stems from social influence, not authority or power
- Leadership requires others, and that implies they don’t need to be “direct reports”
- No mention of personality traits, attributes, or even a title; there are many styles, many paths, to effective leadership
- It includes a goal, not influence with no intended outcome
- Lastly, what makes this definition so different from many of the academic definitions out there is the inclusion of “maximizes the efforts”
I truly enjoyed this article as it expanded my view of leadership. Now, I will leave you with 20 of my favorable leadership quotes to encourage you as a Leader.
Quote # 1
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” — Ronald Reagan
Quote # 2
“To add value to others, one must first value others.” — John Maxwell
Quote # 3
“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion…