I find the concept of leadership full of paradoxes and ambiguities. The notion itself seems very personal to me and deeply ingrained in everyone's individual experience. Now, a complicated idea - difficult to understand or define - is very hard to teach to others. For some help I searched leadership quotes from big names to see if they give some clarity on this mystery: What does leadership mean at this time in human history? Here are a few that I found: · The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.Kenneth Blanchard, University of Massachusetts, Schatz, Managing By Influence, (Prentice-Hall, 1986) · Contrary to the opinion of many people, leaders are not born. Leaders are made, and they are made by effort and hard work. Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970, Professional football coach · Leadership, like swimming, cannot be learned by reading about it. Henry Mintzberg, McGill University School of Management, The Nature of Managerial Work, Harper & Row, 1973 · The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt, American President
· Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. Steve Jobs
· Leadership includes wisdom of the mind, body, spirit, and emotions. Author Unknown What is your best leadership quote? Enter it in our Facebook contest here. I realized that when it comes to leadership, I have some key questions that I like to explore. Questions like: · What if true leadership is more about "unlearning" and "stop doing" than adopting yet another management concept? · What if all we need about leadership is an awareness of our "implicit" theory of leadership, the one we are already using? · If leadership is not only about influencing others, what can leadership also be about? | 
