 Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led. |
| The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. |
| Taking charge of your own learning is a part of taking charge of your life, which is the sine qua non in becoming an integrated person. |
| The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. |
| The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born. |
| Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult. |
| Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work. |
| There is a profound difference between information and meaning. |
| Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line. |
| The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon. |
| Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. |
| You need people who can walk their companies into the future rather than back them into the future. |
| Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. |
| Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary. |
| Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right. |
| There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish. |
| The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment. |
| The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. |
| Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard. |
| People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out. |
