“Each player has to be his own captain.” – Don Meyer
“Taking people to the top who could never get there without my assistance is my greatest accomplishment.” –Jim Whittaker (1st American to reach the top of Everest)
“We preached that everybody’s a leader. You’re either a negative leader or you’re a positive leader. But everybody contributes, and everybody has to be a part of it. And again, when someone may not be able to carry the load, someone else has to step up. That the whole idea of “whatever it takes.” You’re not always going to be a hundred percent healthy; you’re not always going to meet the same challenge...Everybody’s a leader. Now if you have someone who is a complainer, that guy’s not doing it, a finger-pointer, that’s negative leadership. Leadership comes from everybody.” -Chuck Noll
"I’m just a plowhand from Arkansas, but I’ve learned how to put and hold a team together. I’ve learned how to lift some individuals up and how to calm others down, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat, together, as a team. To do that, there are just three things I’d ever have to say: If anything went wrong, I did it. If it went semi-good, then we did it. If anything went real good, then you did it! That’s really all it takes to get other people to win for you." –Bear Bryant
"A leader may be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if the players on his team cannot translate that knowledge into action, it means nothing. In other words, it’s not what I know, it’s what they do on the court that really matters." - Mike Krzyzewski
“A great leader never sets himself above his followers except in carrying responsibilities.” Jules Ormont
“You can’t defer if you’re the person who’s in the leadership position.” -Coach Krzyzewski
“The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.” –Woodrow Wilson
“I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it’s plural.” -Coach Krzyzewski
“No good leader approves short-term benefits if they undermine long-range purposes.” –Gerald Ford
“Perhaps the toughest call for a coach is weighing what is best for an individual against what is best for the team. Keeping a player on the roster just because I liked him personally, or even because of his great contributions to the team in the past, when I felt someone else could do more for the team would be a disservice to the team’s goals.” –Tom Landry
"Leaders show respect for people by giving them time." -Mike Krzyzewski
“Consistency is overrated. A leader is obligated not to be consistent, but to be right—to do what’s best for the organization." -Bill Parcells
"Leaders should be reliable without being predictable. They should be consistent without being anticipated." -Mike Krzyzewski
“Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower
“I’ve always tried to lead by example. That is just my personality. I never led vocally. I never really tried to motivate by talking because I don’t think words ever mean as much action.” –Michael Jordan
"A leader has to be positive about all things that happen to his team. Look at nothing in the past as failure." -Mike Krzyzewski
“Some leaders are like seagulls. When something goes wrong, they fly in, make a lot of noise, and crap all over everything.” –Ken Blanchard
“Leadership is not just one quality, but rather a blend of many qualities; and while no one individual possesses all of the need talents that go into leadership, each man can develop a combination to make him a leader.” –John Maxwell
“The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers.” -Max Depree
"In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved." -Mike Krzyzewski
“Good leaders inspire their followers to have confidence in them. But great leaders inspire their followers to have confidence in themselves.” –John Maxwell
“Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.” –Harry S. Truman
“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of a leader.” -Dale Galloway
“The most difficult person to lead is always yourself.” –John Maxwell
“But a leader has to earn that title. You aren’t the leader just because you’re the best player on the team, the smartest person in the class, or the most popular. No one can give you that title either. You have to gain the respect of those around you by your actions. You have to be consistent in your approach whether it’s basketball practice, a sales meeting, or dealing with your family.” –Michael Jordan
"When a leader takes responsibility for his own actions and mistakes, he not only sets a good example, he shows a healthy respect for people on his team." -Mike Krzyzewski
“Leadership is the lifting of a man’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a man’s personality beyond its normal limitations.” –Peter Drucker
“I classify a leader as someone who walks out in front of his men, but he doesn't get too far in front to where he cannot hear their footsteps.” –Tommy Lasorda
"Leaders have to give time for relationships. But more demands will be placed on their time as they become more successful. So if a person’s success is based on developing relationships, then they have to continually find new ways of getting it done." -Mike Krzyzewski
“A leader has to be ahead of his men. You’ve got to know what is going on all the time. You cannot swim without being in the water! You cannot ice skate without being on the ice. Take the map with you and get up front!” –George S. Patton
“Great teams have multiple leaders, multiple voices. A major part of building a team is discovering who those voices will be and cultivating them, making sure that their leadership is established within your group.” -Mike Krzyzewski
“Effective leaders inspire and encourage their team members to learn new skills and grab new responsibilities.” –Colin Powell
"Every leader needs to remember that a healthy respect for authority takes time to develop. It’s like building trust. You don’t instantly have trust, it has to be earned." -Mike Krzyzewski
“A leader can’t make any excuses. There has to be quality in everything you do. Off the court, on the court, in the classroom, on the playground, inside the meeting room, outside of work. You have to transfer those skills, that drive, to whatever environment you’re in.” –Michael Jordan
"In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved." -Mike Krzyzewski
“To be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, you must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality of a leader is unquestioned integrity. Without it, no real success is possible whether it is in a section gang, on a football field, in an army, or in an office.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower
“No leader is exempt from criticism, and his humility will nowhere be seen more clearly than in the manner in which he accepts and reacts to it.” –Dale Brown
“Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery.” -Warren Bennis
“Anyone who steps into the arena of leadership must be prepared to pay a price. True leadership exacts a heavy toll on the whole person and the more effective the leadership, the higher the price! The leader must soon face the fact that he will be the target of critical darts. Unpleasant though it may sound, you haven’t really led until you have become familiar with the stinging barbs of the critic. Good leaders must have the thick skin.” –Dale Brown
“True leadership always involves other people.” –John Maxwell
“Perhaps the most important thing you do as a leader is to be a good role model. Lead by example. Walk the talk. Live the life. Always carry yourself as though everyone is watching, even when no one is watching.” –Brian Tracy,
“Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others, as what he does from day to day to lead himself.” –Thomas J.Watson
“In every age there comes a time when a leader must come forward to meet the need of the hour. Therefore, there is no potential leader who does not have an opportunity to make a positive difference in society. Tragically, there are times when a leader does not rise to the hour.” –Winston Churchill
“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes." –Peter Drucker
“A leader has two important characteristics; first he is going somewhere; second he is able to persuade other people to go with him.” -Maximilien Fancios Roberspierre
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” –Tony Dungy
“Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence.” –Jack Welch
“Leaders err when they believe the content of their vision will sweep others up by itself. Don't focus on the mechanics of your message to the point where you disregard connecting with your team. People buy into the leader before they buy into the leader's vision. Touch a person's heart before you appeal to their head and ask for a hand.” –John Maxwell
“Leaders are learners.” –Brian Tracy
“Everyone is an influencer of other people.” –John Maxwell
"Leaders have to work harder than the people they hope to motivate." –Bill Parcells
"A leader is best when people barely know he exists... when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, 'We did this ourselves.'" –Lao-Tse
"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." –Peter Drucker
“The single most potent tool for inspiring others to strive for excellence is leading by example: teaching by our actions, following our own advice, and doing whatever we would ask of others...Exceptional leadership requires integrity and respect. Effective leaders speak the truth.” –Joe Montana
"Leaders earn the right to lead. How? They manifest integrity...Character is not inherited, it is something that can be built and disciplined." If we hope to develop these traits in our athletes, why shouldn't we want the same for ourselves? Actually we need to "have it" in order to "give it." –Vince Lombardi
“It’s better to have a group of deer led by a lion than a group of lions led by a deer.” –Anonymous
“Whatever a leader does now sets up what he does later. And there’s always a later.” –Mike Krzyzewski
“When it comes to effective leadership, it’s not about you and what makes you comfortable or helps you get ahead. It’s about other people.” –Tony Dungy
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing is the wrong thing; and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” -Theodore Roosevelt
