Leadership

“ To create a better leadership of men,—to form a new order and union of men,—a new nobility of men, acquainted with the doctrine of their own nature, and in league for its advancement, to seize the 'thoughts' of those whose law is the law of the larger activity, and 'inform them with nobleness,'—was the plan. ”

“ There can be no visible leader, whose leadership is wholly practical, whether of things or realities—for the metaphysician—or of ideas or categories—for the logician—or of persons or classes—for the statesman or the moralist or the theologian. Metaphysical reality, the truly practical and realistic knowledge, the political supremacy which is complete and inclusive, or the wholly moral life or the divine life must forever be secured, not through a single manifestation presiding over the others, but through the divided labour of them all. ”

“ Never before was consistent leadership so necessary; never before was it necessary to concert measures over areas so vast, to adjust laws to so many interests, to make a compact and intelligible unit out of so many fractions, to maintain a central and dominant force where there are so many forces. ”

“ Admitting the utmost that can be said for the necessity of leadership, we must at the same time grant that the perfection of leadership itself lies in securing the willing, convinced, open-eyed support of the mass. ”

“ We have seen that all leadership has an aspect of sympathy and conformity, as well as one of individuality and self-will, so that every leader must also be a follower, in the sense that he shares the general current of life. ”

“ The discovery and training of leadership is one of the chief concerns of the true leader. Witness the devotion of the Master to the chosen Twelve and his willingness to leave his whole cause in their hands. ”

“ If, as the gentleman aforesaid states, large flocks of metaphysicians are wandering about without a leader, what has opened his eyes to see the need of taking them out of the care of the great Shepherd, and behold the remedy, to help them by his own leadership? ”

“ Our object in this chapter is to get at the practical elements of leadership; to find out what leadership requires in one's own personal qualities and in the methods of dealing with men. In doing this the first consideration is to understand the object of leadership. ”

“ Actually, most of the role of leadership is feelings out the thoughts, the unexpressed feelings and desires of our people, and finally articulating them whether in legislation or orders and in plans and projects. ”

“ For it is only through leadership, through someone venturing out beyond the ruck and getting his fellows to follow him, that any progress is made. Mere obedience to authority and exercise of authority never initiate any new departure. ”

“ Giving thought to oneself and to the meanings of those things that affect the relations and control of men is essential to acquiring leadership. It is what we ourselves believe and feel and live—what comes out of our own inner consciousness—that will make it possible for us to appear before others as their leader. Even the inspired Leader withdrew into the wilderness for long inner communion before He essayed the responsibilities of leadership. We should hardly expect to lead even in our small way without some preparation. ”

“ Some leaders, however, through wonderful strength and other superior qualities, become more or less exempt from this ill feeling, and their leadership is freely and pleasantly accepted both in and out of “business hours.” ”

“ Her success in this sphere of responsibility must be judged by the facts already so well known in regard to the results attained by this great organization—results that were only possible through the united, prayerful, determined work of many loving hearts and heads, as well as a skilful leadership possessed of the faculty to govern, and guided and blessed by the wisdom and strength without which all labor is in vain. ”

“ With such a measuring-rod in hand we may go out into the community and determine, with some degree of accuracy, who are leaders and who are mere followers. Then we should need to go further and discover degrees of leadership, whether small or large, and, also, the quality of the leadership, whether good or bad, wise or foolish, selfish or altruistic, noisy or serene, and all the many other variations. ”

“ And to deny the order of the world
I gave you words, now I affirm the plan.
To fight against the gods in man’s behalf,
I made my leadership. Now I perceive [214]
The cause of gods and men made one. ”

“ Among these instincts, those of the greatest interest to the leader are naturally the instincts of leadership—the instinct to lead others and the instinct to follow others when we think they know the answer better than we. The manifestations of both these instincts are very common in our daily life, which shows their availability and value to the leader as agents for controlling men. ”

“ A sense of leadership consists, then, of a combination of self-confidence and poise, clearness of speech and expression, and enthusiasm for one's work; and if with these three there is mingled the ability to think clearly and definitely, we have a combination that is bound to produce distinctive results, no matter what the field of activity may be. Let us repeat that the encouraging thing about the whole matter is the fact that most of the things involved in leadership can be acquired, at least to a certain degree, if persistent efforts are made for a long enough time. ”

“ Besides obeying authority and exercising authority, men have also to practise leadership. Merely to give and obey orders is nothing like sufficient. In most things a man follows some leader, but in each man there is one thing—his own particular line—in which he can lead. ”

“ There are two kinds of leadership among men. One is the arbitrary leadership of the boss; the other is natural, a true leadership, which has for its basis personal strength and merit. The former is transient, having no real place among thinking and liberty-loving people. The other is abiding, for the true leader is ever in demand. ”

“ It is this latter fact which may encourage those of us who are not naturally as gifted along these lines as we should like to be, and it is because of this possibility of acquiring what in conducting amounts to an indispensable qualification that an attempt is here made to analyze the thing called leadership into its elements. ”

“ Whatever you do, you should work under direction, under the direction of some one whose judgment, wisdom, honesty, and high principles you respect. Under wise leadership you have your very best opportunities for success. In attempting to be your own manager and to go your own way, you suffer from the serious handicaps to which I have already referred. ”

“ Call him God or man, still we are ranged under his leadership, and if we strive to be faithful followers, or, deeper still, true members of his mystical body, our work must grow up with his inspiration. ”

“ The kind of authority which men of scientific achievement exert, and which all men of special gifts of talent and character enjoy, is an authority to which we owe intelligent and cheerful allegiance. The world advances by leadership of this kind and by loyalty to such leadership. ”

“ So the object of every step in this discussion, the psychologic object of every step in leadership, is to secure better discipline and morale, more intelligent initiative, keener loyalty and better teamwork. The student must keep these objects ever in mind in both study and practice, as furnishing a purpose or guide in all that is said or done. The accomplishment of these objects is a constant inspiration to a good leader ”

“ In my uni- verse and in my Father’s universe of universes, our brethren-sons are dealt with as individuals in all their spiritual relations, but in all group relationships we unfailingly provide for definite leadership. Our kingdom is a realm of order, and where two or more will creatures act in co-operation, there is always provided the authority of leadership. ”

“ THE FIRST ELEMENT IN LEADERSHIPThe primary basis upon which a sense of leadership rests is undoubtedly confidence in one's general ability and in one's knowledge of the particular subject being handled. The leader must not only know but must know that he knows. This makes quick judgments possible, and the leader and organizer must always be capable of making such judgments, and of doing it with finality. ”

“ GREAT DEMAND FOR WISE LEADERS There is a greater demand for a skilled and wise leader now than ever before, and in preparing for that leadership, let each man of the race look to himself as a possible aspirant and successor to the present leaders. ”

“ And of all types and kinds, what can be more instructive than the leadership of a group within a group?—that curious double movement where real progress may be negative and actual advance be relative retrogression. ”

“ Despite the fact that there is hardly a corner in the world where the average man does not make the trite complaint, “What we need is leadership,” the world seems for a time, at least, to have lost its capacity to produce real leaders. ”

“ You may assume that you have the requisite native character for leadership, or you would not be in position to use it. It remains for you to prove its worth and improve its natural qualities. You will not do this by any grandstand plays, or even by prayer. ”

“ When the qualities that now confer leadership have become universal, there will no longer be leaders and followers, and democracy will have been realized at last. ”

“ Among his many qualities of leadership were strong physical endurance, untiring industry, a persistent boldness, a ready facility in public speaking, unfailing political shrewdness, an unusual power in running debate, with liberal instincts and progressive purposes. ”

“ Leadership depends upon what we may term the PSYCHOLOGY OF ORGANIZATION ITSELF, that is to say, upon the tactical and technical necessities which result from the consolidation of every disciplined political aggregate. ”

“ Experienced leadership, which has enjoyed a period of public approval long enough to build up not only a group of devoted followers, but a group of place-men and office-holders who owe their positions to the leader, can assemble a bureaucratic or political machine, adopt measures and take the steps necessary to keep its chosen leader in a life job, with the possibility of naming a successor. ”

“ Kingship involves ascendancy and authority. Both are truly gained, not by chicanery, but by personal force. There is a natural gift of leadership, which is strengthened by endurance, perseverance, and ceaseless hard work. ”

“ And it proved that moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon. ”

“ They bore themselves with the air of leaderships; they had the port of philosophers, noblemen and kings. The writings of our earliest times are full of reference to the majesty of their looks, the awe inspired by their presence, the grandeur and power of their words. ”

“ The attitudes that these groups assume, the way in which they react to their problems, will be determined in the broader aspects for some time to come by the character of the young leadership that is now taking the field. ”

“ A famous British General (still living) was once asked, "What is the most essential quality for a great leader of men?" And he replied in one word "SYMPATHY." The General was speaking of leadership in relation to warfare ”

“ Leadership.—The politician aspires to leadership, and that is praiseworthy, provided his cause is a worthy one. If the cause is unworthy, the cloven foot will soon appear and repudiation will ensue, which will mark him unsuccessful as a politician. ”

“ The leaders must therefore be skilled in uniting the small number of active elements around the leadership and must rely on them to raise the level of the intermediate elements and to win over the backward elements. ”

“ Loyalty and Initiative.—We have seen how the leader is responsible for developing these qualities in his subordinates. He wins their loyalty to him by gaining their admiration of the personal qualities he displays; and their loyalty to the larger organization and the cause, by his own example and by timely comments. He develops their intelligent initiative by the policy and methods he employs in handling them in their work. He constantly encourages individual effort, taking pains to commend every display of interest, inventiveness, ingenuity, or improvement. ”

“ You have been leaders from the beginning, and I have trained you as leaders. And a leader must stand alone. Each one of you will have a different way of passing on the light. The time has come to begin. ”

“ And, like every big, stirring cause, it had its leaders—leaders whose authority rested upon the affections and sympathies of the people rather than upon any attested wisdom or success of statesmanship. ”

“ Under other historic circumstances where great leaders and individuds do not appear, an institution like the Church or the Party will assume the primary role of authority.
(b) Perhaps a more important source of appeal made by the leader to his following lies in the vicarious gratification of their yearnings through his presumed traits and achievements. The splendour, the power, the flame of the leader are shared imaginatively. New elements of meaning enter the lives of those who are emotionally impoverished. ”

“ In past history, again and again, it was manifest that some of the outstanding factors which led to success were the personality of the leader, the supreme confidence in him held by all ranks, his realisation of the powers and limits of his subordinates, his personal courage, and his intensity of purpose. The outstanding factors which brought success on the particular occasion described in this book have served to repeat and illustrate these old historical lessons. ”

“ Let those who think that preferment, power, and applause are always the chief objects of human ambition, look now at this illustrious and yet youthful personage, cheerfully resigning his command, and without one murmur of regret for the honors laid down, or one glance towards the honors gathering before him, taking affectionate leave of his companions in arms, and their great chief, and returning to his native land, to resume there the duties he owed as a subject and member of the State, in France. ”