Leadership quotations

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

-- Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Learn from the people, plan with the people… A leader is best when people barely know that he exists... of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aims fulfilled, they will all say, "We did this ourselves."  

-- Lao Tzu

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The essence of leadership is not giving things or even providing visions. It is offering oneself and one's spirit.

-- Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal

There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread. -- Mother Teresa

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. -- Winston Churchill

It could be argued that all leadership is appreciative leadership. It's the capacity to see the best in the world around us, in our colleagues, and in the groups we are trying to lead....It's the capacity to see with an appreciative eye the true and the good, the better and the possible.

-- David L Cooperrider

The great question about leadership, about taking real steps on the pilgrim's path, is the great question of any individual life: how to make everything more personal. How to understand life or leadership not as an abstract path involving devious strategies but more like an inhabitation, a way of life, a conversation, a captaincy, an expression of individual nature and gifts and a familiarity with the specific nature of your own desires and fears.

-- David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity

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Reading list

Leadership, change and communication

• Building the Bridge As You Walk On It, Robert Quinn
• The Art of Possibility, Rosamund and Benjamin Zander
• The Leader as Communicator - Strategies and tactics to build loyalty, focus effort and spark creativity, Robert Mai, A. Akerson
• Crucial Conversations - Tools for talking when stakes are high, Kerry Patterson, J. Grenny, R. McMillan, A. Switzler
• Recreating the World, Michael and Julie Bopp
• Good to Great, Jim Collins
• Leading Change, James O'Toole
• The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle - How to become a servant leader, James C. Hunter
• Why Smart Executives Fail, Sidney Finkelstein

Emotional intelligence

• A General Theory of Love, Thomas Lewis, F. Amini, R. Lannon
• The Developing Mind - How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are, Daniel Siegel
• Learning in Relationship - Foundation for personal and professional success, Ronald R. Short
• The Dance of Anger - A woman's guide to changing the patterns of intimate relationships, Harriet Lerner
• Toxic Emotions at Work - How compassionate managers handle pain and conflict, Peter J. Frost
• The Art of Leading Yourself - Tap the power of your emotional intelligence, Randi B. Noyes
• From Now on With Passion - A guide to emotional intelligence, Christine Mockler Casper
• Emotionally Intelligent Living, Geetu Orme

Coaching

• The Heart of Coaching - Using transformational coaching to create a high-performance culture, Thomas Crane
• Coaching - Evoking Excellence in Others, James Flaherty
• Coaching for Leadership - How the world's greatest coaches help leaders learn, Marshall Goldsmith, Laurence Lyons, Alyssa Freas, editors
• Masterful Coaching, Robert Hargrove
• C-suite coaching losing its stigma - Globe & Mail article March 30, 2005

Personal development

• The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle
• SQ - Connecting with your spiritual intelligence, Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall
• The Quantum Self, Danah Zohar
• The Art of Living, Epictetus (a new interpretation by Sharon Lebell)
• Sacred Contracts - Awakening your divine potential, Caroline Myss
• Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom
• How Much Joy Can You Stand?, Suzanne Falter-Barnes

Consulting

• The Consultant's Calling - Bringing who you are to what you do, Geoffrey M. Bellman

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Related Links

International Coach Federation

Royal Roads University , MBA in Executive Management with a Specialization in Leadership

Positive Organizational Scholarship, Ross School of Business , University of Michigan

Appreciative Inquiry Commons

The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations

Learning In Action Technologies

Leadership Response

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