Small bites of wisdom feed an appetite for learning.

I love small words of wisdom that contain a big truth: the kind of truth that shifts my perspective and my leadership.  Over the years there have been many words of wisdom – truth articulated by others – that have provided direction, clarity or encouragement just when I needed it.

I want to provide you with some Words of Wisdom I trust can do the same for you.  May some of these truisms resonate with you and provide the clarity, direction or encouragement you may be seeking right at this moment…

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.  – Max DePree

A leader is a dealer in hope.  – Napoleon Bonaparte

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.  – John Maxwell

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.  – Margaret Mead

Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position.  – Brian Tracy

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.  – Publilius Syrus

Far better it is to dare mighty things than to take rank with those poor timid spirits who know neither victory nor defeat.  – Theodore Roosevelt

Leadership is influence.  – John C. Maxwell

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 an uncertain trumpet.  – Reverend Theodore Hesburgh

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.  – Rosalynn Carter

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.  – Max Lucado

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.  – General George Patton

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.  – General Colin Powell

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.  – John Quincy Adams

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.  – Thomas Jefferson

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.  – Norman Schwarzkopf

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.  – Stephen Covey

You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.  – André Gide

Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.  – Winston Churchill

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.  – Henry David Thoreau

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.  – John D. Rockefeller

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.  – Thomas Jefferson

Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.  – Winston Churchill

If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.  – Jim Rohn

I failed my way to success.  – Thomas Edison

The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do.  – Anonymous

Do one thing every day that scares you.  – Anonymous

All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.  – Michael John Bobak

If you can dream it, you can do it.  – Walt Disney

If you think you can or you can’t, you are right.  – Henry Ford

Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember–the only taste of success some people get is to take a bite out of you.  – Zig Ziglar

Some look at what is and ask, “Why?”.  Others dream of what could be and declare, “Why not!”  – Martin Luther King Jr.