Great Throughts Treasury

"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."

"There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish."

"The organizations of the future will increasingly depend on the creativity of their members to survive. Great Groups offer a new model in which the leader is an equal among Titans. In a truly creative collaboration, work is pleasure, and the only rules and procedures are those that advance the common cause."

"There is a profound difference between information and meaning."

"Too many companies believe people are interchangeable. Truly gifted people never are. They have unique talents. Such people cannot be forced into roles they are not suited for, nor should they be. Effective leaders allow great people to do the work they were born to do."

"Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work."

"Vision animates, inspires, transforms purpose into action... Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."

"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."

"We have more information now than we can use, and less knowledge and understanding than we need. Indeed, we seem to collect information because we have the ability to do so, but we are so busy collecting it that we haven't devised a means of using it. The true measure of any society is not what it knows but what it does with what it knows."

"With a vision, the executive provides the all-important bridge from the present to the future of the organization."

"You need people who can walk their companies into the future rather than back them into the future."

"Without a terrific leader, you're not going to have a Great Group. But it is also true that you're not going to have a great leader without a Great Group."

"Who succeeds in forming and leading a Great Group? He or she is almost always a pragmatic dreamer. They are people who get things done, but they are people with immortal longings. Often, they are scientifically minded people with poetry in their souls."