Leadership Quotes:

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"Rarely do the followers exceed the expectations of the leaders."

"The Church expects that each of us carry a share of the burden of leadership. There is no paid clergy. The work is done because of a love of the cause. And as people serve, they grow in capacity. The time and effort is not a sacrifice because there is returned more than is given."

President Gordon B. Hinckley - Madison Square Garden, N.Y., April 26, 1998


"Leadership is a Quality--not a Position."


"God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability!"

Neal A. Maxwell "It's Service, Not Status, That Counts," Ensign, July 1975


President David O. McKay stated:

"No matter how attractive the personality may be, that leader or teacher fails in the work assigned if the leader or teacher directs the love of the member only to the personality of the leader or teacher. It is the leader's duty, or the teacher's duty, to teach the member to love--not the leader or teacher, but the truth of the gospel. Always, everywhere, we find Christ losing himself for his Father's will; and so also should our leaders and teachers, so far as their personalities are concerned, lose themselves for the truth he desires to have them teach.

"When the people came to Jesus and asked for bread, or the truth, he never turned them away with a stone. He always had truth to give. He understood it. It radiated from his being. He understood how to use illustrations, the natural things around him, to impress that truth upon his hearers. In other words, he was filled with his subject and then was enabled to give that subject to his hearers."

C. R. October 1968, p. 143; or "Spirituality," Ensign, December 1968


"Leaders on every level should be primarily interested in rendering compassionate caring for others."

Marvin J. Ashton, "There Are Many Gifts" - Nov. 1987 Ensign


"Leadership is the ability to encourage the best efforts of others in working toward a desirable goal."

Spencer W. Kimball, "R.S. - Its Promise and Potential" - March 1976 Ensign


"There are too many tacit, silent deals in which one person agrees not to demand full measure, if the other person will agree to mediocrity when excellence may be possible.

"The unwillingness of most leaders to set standards, to administer feedback when standards are not met, to praise clearly when standards are met, stands in the way of the development of excellence. The leader who makes no demands of his disciples cannot really lead them at all. The sense of new excitement and new challenge generated by the gospel will be blunted by leaders who shield followers from the full demands of fellowship."

Neal A. Maxwell, Sept. 19, 1992, BYU 2nd Stake, Melch. Priesthood Recharge


"True dignity is never gained by place, and never lost when honors are withdrawn."

Philip Messinger


"In the kingdom, the greater our responsibilities, the greater is our need to see ourselves as servants."

Spencer W. Kimball, "News of the Church" - Ensign May 1979


"Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence by seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control."

Tom Landry


"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success."

Norman Vincent Peale


"Petty things become unimportant when people are impassioned about a purpose higher than self."

Stephen R. Covey, Book: First Things First, p. 106


"When people have a real sense of legacy, a sense of mattering, a sense of contribution, it seems to tap into the deepest part of their heart and soul. It brings out the best and subordinates the rest."

Stephen R. Covey, Book: First Things First, p. 106


"Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all."

Dwight D. Eisenhower


"The leader who is willing to say things that are hard to bear, but which are true and which need to be said, is the leader who truly loves his people and who is kind to them. Nothing is more cruel than that leader who, in order to have the praise and plaudits of his followers, entices them from safety into the swamp out of which some may never return. The straight and narrow way is just that—straight and narrow. It is an arduous up-hill journey. The way to hell is broad and wide and slopes ever so gently, and those who walk that path scarcely notice the descent; sometimes they don’t notice the descent because praise of men distracts them and they do not see the warning signs! The choice is still between the golden calf and the Ten Commandments." (Unpublished letter dated Aug. 12, 1975, "Some Thoughts," from Neal A. Maxwell to President Tanner.)

N. Eldon Tanner, "For They Loved the Praise of Men More Than the Praise of God," Ensign, Nov. 1975


"Every bishop can testify to the promptings that attend calls to serve in the Church. Frequently the call seems to be for the benefit not so much of those to be taught or led as for the person who is to teach or lead."

Thomas S. Monson - "The Spirit Giveth Life" - June 1997 Ensign


"One measure of Leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you."

Dennis A. Perr - Reader's Digest - April 1996


"We are all leaders--whether we want to be or not. There is always someone we are influencing--either leading them to good--or away from good."

Lief Erickson


Topic: D&C 121:34-36

"How seductive the lure of power and the prestige that goes with it can be! The acclaim of the people, the virtual adulation in which leaders are held by many members, the hanging-on-every- word attention leaders receive--all are powerful intoxicants, easily capable of corrupting the unwary shepherd. Leaders should, of course, be grateful for the love and support of the Saints. But they must discount personal praise directed at them, recognizing that whatever fraction is deserved rightfully belongs to the Good Shepherd and the Father. We can take little credit if we utilize well gifts and talents that have been bestowed upon us. The credit belongs to the Giver of Gifts, not the receiver. When dealing with the praise of men, perhaps it would be wise to adopt something of the attitude of the Duke of Wellington. 'Asked if he were pleased to have been mobbed by the ecstatic population of Brussels on his return from Waterloo [Wellington] rejoined, 'Not in the least; if I had failed, they would have shot me.' (John Keegan, The Mask of Command, p. 163.)"

Alexander B. Morrison "Feed My Sheep: Leadership Ideas for Latter-day Shepherds," [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1992], p. 170


"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it."

Theodore Roosevelt


"Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself."

Thomas J. Watson, Sr.


"A leader knows what's best to do; a manager knows merely how best to do it."

Ken Adelman


"Everywhere I go in the Church, nationally and internationally, I find that our young men and young women are the leaders in their schools. They are the student body officers, the outstanding scholars, the finest athletes. They set the standard for morality and dress. Everyone looks up to them for guidance and excellence. Those that I am talking about are you. We are extremely pleased about your leadership. We expect nothing less from you, and neither does your Heavenly Father."

F. Melvin Hammond, "The Vision of Eternity" - BYU Dev. - Feb. 11, 2003


"Every moment in planning saves 3 or 4 in execution."

Crawford Greenwalt


"When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates."

Thomas S. Monson Favorite Quotations from the Collection of Thomas S. Monson (SLC: Deseret Book Co., 1985, p. 61)


"Men and Women of Christ magnify their callings without magnifying themselves."

Elder Neal A. Maxwell