
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.
quote by John Kenneth Galbraith

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What makes a good follower The single most important characteristic may well be a willingness to tell the truth. In a world of growing complexity leaders are increasingly dependent on their subordinates for good information, whether the leaders want to hear it or not. Followers who tell the truth and leaders who listen to it are an unbeatable combination.
quote by Warren G. Bennis

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The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.
quote by Warren G. Bennis

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The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born. Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.
quote by Warren G. Bennis

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I speak directly to the people, and I know that the people of California want to have better leadership. They want to have great leadership. They want to have somebody that will represent them. And it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, young or old.
quote by Arnold Schwarzenegger

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All companies of any size have to continue to push to make sure you get the right leaders, the right team, the right people to be fast acting, and fast moving in the marketplace. We've got great leaders, and we continue to attract and promote great new leaders.
quote by Steve Ballmer

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I think a major act of leadership right now, call it a radical act, is to create the places and processes so people can actually learn together, using our experiences.
quote by Margaret J. Wheatley

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If I were to sum up the negative reactions to my work, I think there are two primary causes: one is that if there is discourse about anxiety it is necessarily going to induce anxiety. It will represent a return of the repressed for a great many people.
quote by Harold Bloom

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Woodrow Wilson called for leaders who, by boldly interpreting the nation's conscience, could lift a people out of their everyday selves. That people can be lifted into their better selves is the secret of transforming leadership.
quote by James MacGregor Burns

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African Roses
Bye-bye to the African Roses,
For many years you stood strong as leaders in the name of nations;
But the youths stood up and blew you people away like a candle in the wind.
Oh North African leaders! !
Now the day is over on you people;
For your wings of leadership can no longer fly up high through the wind.
Inclusive and exclusive,
The blues and the jazz of the North African Nations are now dying out,
And the dictators are now seen by all of us in the world.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis

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The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers... Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership.
quote by Gary Wills

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Change Your Paradigm
Talking about my book, leadership centred on principles
you immediately defend the benevolent autocratic style
so beloved by authoritarian societies, the way we lead
our lives requiring sacrifice and tact from underlings
to remain happy and calm while being disempowered all
the time - oh well, learning patience and resignation
is such a virtue - fighting to change your paradigm
is more than my character and personality will let me,
I don't mind being unpopular since popularity with you
comes at too high a price which I cannot pay even if I
try, to get you to share power with me does not seem
feasible given your entrenched ideas of leaders being
nasty people - I'll say they are!
"Principle-Centred Leadership" by Stephen
R. Covey - Simon and Schuster UK Ltd,1992
Diary Notes 17 June 2012
poem by Margaret Alice Second

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Community Theater
NOW.
With a surfacing of belated sentiments,
An admitted wishing of rethinking.
Does nothing for the implementation of it.
Common sense,
Had not been represented.
In their maddening willingness to display,
Their nonsense.
And a hastily solicited audience to videotape,
Can not be convinced
This presentation they are forced to applaud,
Will be shown as the best of community theater.
And not a segment depicting,
A process of their leaders picked.
Performing a state of crisis,
As would be done by children playing a game of politics.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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A Democratic Leader's Second Term in Office
When people give some leaders, second term,
It shows that they repose a lot of faith,
And strongly hope their dreams in life come true,
And basic amenities are given.
The country must be back in progress' path!
The leader carries heavy yoke on him;
The people's expectations are quite high;
Things must be done with speed to people's taste!
The massive mandate's sign of urgency!
There is no time to waste or to delay;
The people's sufferings must cease too soon;
Relief must be the need of hour and day!
The leader realizes his new job,
And greater responsibility;
Election promises must be sure kept;
The voter's aches of heart and home must heal!
Being a leader great is not a joke;
Remaining in authority is tough;
You got to satisfy the common man,
And richer class must grow richer with time!
The act of balancing is rather tough;
The road to regain progress is quite rough;
The past mistakes and blunders are enough;
Democracy must make all voters laugh!
A second time is tougher than the first;
The people's patience stands on brink of hope;
The nation's heart must beat in rhythm soon;
Economy must be fast vitalized!
Congrats to leaders who get second terms;
It is a test of their prowess and skills;
The power of the gab will not help now;
All want good things to happen very fast!
poem by John Celes

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Essence
Rain from the sky,
Mixes with cloudy emotion,
Lingering behind my eyes-
A foggy recollection is given to ask,
Where before have I seen this day,
From my discordant past-
Perhaps a mountain top, or a canyon floor,
Somehow I feel this day I know,
From somewhere far before-
These mystic memories cryptically contain,
Timeless pictures of hope,
Displayed within eternities ever expanding frame-
Unsettled becomes my heart,
By this essence of thought,
Wondering if in it all am I merely watching, or actually taking part-
Is it now, or is it then,
Am I going,
Or have I already been-
There is an essence of great life so present,
Blended into each moment,
And even every living breath-
It crosses the boundaries of time,
Connecting so many hearts, souls,
And minds-
How can it be found,
Deciphered, decoded,
Understood and known-
A great and wonderful mystery,
Alluring, calling, and saving,
Through all humanity-
Capricious consternations on this, such a dark day,
Glow with the essence of the unexplainable,
Yet, shine a beautiful light to guide, along the way-
Holy is this Essence burning into the heart,
The Essence of eternity spread throughout all time,
Bringing all together at the finish, as it was at the start-
Essence bids: all come,
And find, where you are going,
Is to, where you are truly from.
poem by Smoky Hoss

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It is characteristic of science that the full explanations are often seized in their essence by the percipient scientist long in advance of any possible proof.
quote by John Desmond Bernal

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Like the Flag
Force the people to act in a certain manner,
Forcing is the child of happiness.
With the birth and death of citizens,
Our lives are functioning great.
Forces are with weapons, and swords
Are the common attraction for those who preserve.
Our plans from leaders are the forces of felicity,
Like the national upbringing, like the flag.
poem by Naveed Akram

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DownFall
It was that equation of wild love--
That was the beginning of our end;
Undone and spiriling...
In coils of antiscipation;
Where anxiety hitches a ride--
And congruity has taken its leave;
Senses of 'common' disappear...
Lost behind remanants of stoic...
Making difficult the choices--
That fly over our heads landing field...
And disappear into this abyss...
That you call life;
The Essence
September,2010
poem by Theodora Onken

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Whether a man is burdened by power or enjoys power whether he is trapped by responsibility or made free by it whether he is moved by other people and outer forces or moves them -- this is of the essence of leadership.
Theodore H. White in The Making of the President (1960)

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The self has the characteristic that it is an object to itself, and that characteristic distinguishes it from other objects and from the body.
quote by George H. Mead

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Without initiative, leaders are simply workers in leadership positions.
quote by Bo Bennett

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