This year I have been heavily focusing on my business plans and researching and testing ways in which I can be a better businessman. Throughout the course of this I have attended many different business seminars to try and learn new strategies and skills when it comes to motivation and leadership.
One of the best that I have seen so far was in Seattle last month from the guys at Lions Trinity Capital who aside from finance, talked in depth about leadership abilities, harnessing your power and inspiring others around you. One of the best pieces of information that I took from it was that if you want to inspire, you first need to ‘be’ inspired and so I began to read some quotes from famous leaders each morning before work. It has helped me a great deal so far and I wanted to share some of my favorites quotes with you, hopefully they can inspire you as well.
Warren G. Bennis
“Too many companies believe people are interchangeable. Truly gifted people never are. They have unique talents. Such people cannot be forced into roles they are not suited for, nor should they be. Effective leaders allow great people to do the work they were born to do.”
G.K. Chesterton
“If a rhinoceros were to enter this restaurant now, there is no denying he would have great power here. But I should be the first to rise and assure him that he had no authority whatever.”
Theodore Hesburgh
“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow a weak trumpet.”
Harland ‘Colonel’ Sanders
“I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: It was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.”
Donald Trump
“I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big”
Vince Lombardi
“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing”
Phil Libin
“There’s lots of bad reasons to start a company. But there’s only one good, legitimate reason, and I think you know what it is: it’s to change the world.”
Do you have a particular favorite business quote? Let us know what gets you going in the comments section.
