“Throughout history, the greatest leaders didn’t set out to become leaders. They set out to make a difference. Only when they succeeded, only when they finally and actually made a difference, did people begin calling them leaders.”

“Never mistake morale for engagement. The difference is crucial. Lots of big companies have high levels of morale. Few have high levels of engagement.”

“Communication is the life blood, the essential energy, of leadership. It brings people together and unites them in quest of a better tomorrow. In the absence of credible, clear, compelling communication, leadership lacks the energy to sustain itself. It cannot influence and inspire people, and therefore it has no impact. It just dies.”

“How you lead is how you communicate, and how you communicate is how you lead. In a real sense, leadership is its communication.”

“Altogether too many people conflate leadership with senior management. That turns out to be a colossal mistake. Rather, both leadership and management should be viewed as work—two distinct, parallel, and complementary kinds of work, both of which are important for many good reasons, and both of which ought to be present and robust throughout an organization.

“The critical distinction between them is best understood not as a position on the hierarchy but rather as a matter of expectations.

“The work of management identifies existing expectations and strives to meet them. It is the everyday work of organizing production and ensuring performance to predetermined expectations—commonly involving time, money, values, or production, and typically taking the form of deadlines, targets, goals, quotas, limits, standards, laws, terms, processes, criteria, or thresholds—already held by known stakeholders. Some expectations, such as the terms of a contract or a warranty, are explicit. Others, like dignity and respect, are implicit.

“The work of leadership, on the other hand, creates and champions new expectations. It is the extraordinary work of envisioning, inspiring, and bringing about significant change or breakthrough performance through the discretionary and even self-sacrificing efforts of people, often in a state of uncertainty, despair, or risk. Beyond acknowledging and fulfilling predetermined expectations, it sets new expectations, it calls on people to embrace them as aspirations for themselves, and it inspires people to rise to the challenge of meeting or even exceeding them.”

“Alignment and engagement, too, are different but complementary things. They’re both important, and in any organization that seeks to bring about change, they’re both essential. Alignment is the work product, the end result, of managing well. It’s essential for survival. Engagement is the work product, the end result, of leading well. It’s essential for growth.”

“A good question beats a good answer any day. That’s because a good answer is the end of intellectual inquiry and growth, while a good question is only the beginning.”

“Is it really true that ‘what gets measured is what gets done’? If so, then why haven’t I lost those fifteen pounds I gained in college? Could it be that I don’t weigh myself often enough?

“More to the point, if it’s actually true, then why are almost every company’s employee-survey scores on communication, trust, and engagement still so mediocre year after year? Could it be that they don’t survey employees often enough?

“Of course measurement is important. That goes without saying. But it alone is not sufficient. Someone has to want something to be done. Someone has to step up and lead. That and that alone is how things get done.”

“You say your company is fifty years old? A hundred years old? Even older? Good for you. Congratulations. You have been successful. Now, without new ideas, how many more years would you say it has?”

“Money and machinery are fungible. Talent is not. Creativity is not. Dedication is not. Nor, finally, is caring—the simple magic and the simple power of giving a damn.”

“Quick, counting your spouse, how many people really and truly trust you?”

“Begin with listening. Begin with appreciation. In order for others to notice and see your values and vision, you must first notice and see theirs. Leaders go first.”

“The character you condone, you own, for the character you condone is your own.”

“Be your own first follower. For until you follow your own leadership, no one else will.”

“To belittle is to be little.”

“Forget about being a go-getter. Instead, be a go-giver.”

“You must earn and deserve the trust you want, for the trust you get is the trust you deserve.”

“Just be the kind of leader you want to follow. That’s the same leader everyone else wants to follow anyway.”

“Leaders are always communicating. Even when they’re not, they are. Indeed, they’re communicating the most when they don’t even realize they’re communicating at all.”

“Good leaders don’t ask: ‘What’s the matter with you?’ They ask, ‘What matters to you?’”

“At this very moment, someone, somewhere, is figuring out how to do your work better, faster, cheaper. How close do you think they’re getting?”

“What is strong leadership? It’s important not to confuse it with arrogance or aggressiveness. Rather, we should think of strong leadership—and of the real strength required of true leadership—as the courage of conviction, as the will to persevere, as the ability to control one’s instincts, as the capacity for deep self-reflection, as the recognition of the importance of emotional intelligence.”

“Instead of pointing a finger, just curl it around and follow it home.”

“Leaders are people, and people are human beings. Not human doings. Not human goings. Not human havings. Human beings!”

“Accountability is a cornerstone of any well-run organization, but too much of a good thing can backfire. Extreme accountability can be at war with the truth, with self-confidence, with teamwork and collaboration, with creative thinking, and with agile opportunity.”

“Stop trying to light a fire under people. It doesn’t work. Instead, light a fire inside them. That is what works.”

“Learn how to tell a taut, riveting story. Throughout history the best leaders have told great stories. A good story is the gift wrapping of a moral lesson or a strategic imperative. Because the gift wrapping is so pretty, the lesson itself is unforgettable.”

“The fact of the matter is that leaders need followers more than followers need leaders. Followers are often just putting up with leaders, while leaders must rely on their followers. It’s the followers—the troops on the ground—who ultimately make change happen.”

“Charisma is an overrated virtue. Indeed, in the wrong hands, it isn’t even a virtue, and it’s surprising just how often you find it in the wrong hands.”

“The next time you watch a golf tournament on TV, notice something. You never see professional golfers studying the leaderboard. They’re too focused on their next shot.”

“Here’s the secret to a great reputation: Just do the right thing, and wait for people to notice.”

“As every Realtor knows, the three things that matter most in real estate are location, location, location. The same thing is true in leadership, only it isn’t location. The three things that matter most for successful leaders are culture, culture, culture.”

“As any dictionary can quickly tell you, the word ‘leadership’ has multiple meanings. On one hand, it denotes a kind of active work that enrolls people in a large cause. On the other hand, it often is shorthand for a static position of senior authority in organizations: the CEO, the executive director, the corner office.

“That difference is big. If we lazily use the word to refer to positions of authority, its strength becomes dependent on external power, on the gears of the organization. The whole concept of active leadership evaporates.

“Instead, we should get in the habit of thinking and speaking of leadership as the mindset, skills, and work of pulling people together in support of a common cause. Then we will be getting somewhere.”