Are These The Worst Leadership Quotes Of All Time?

Originally published by Bernard Marr on LinkedIn: Are These The Worst Leadership Quotes Of All Time?

In the business world, we’re bombarded with sharp quotes from great leaders, and always trying to extract a few more drops of wisdom from the words. But not all great leaders had great things to say about leadership.

If you’re looking instead for examples of what not to do, then look no further. The following quotes are not just dubious advice, but some are actually laughably bad. Try replacing a few of the motivational posters in your office with these quotes and enjoy the results.

  1. “Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain’t the lead dog, the scenery never changes.” – Lewis Grizzard
    Well, gosh. That’s inspiring. But a team full of uninspired dogs is a team with a lot of turnover and morale problems. A leader’s job is to inspire and encourage the team to enrich themselves.

  2. “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” – General George S. Patton
    General Patton certainly had a few gems of wisdom to share… While this might work in a military situation, telling people to just get out of the way if they can’t get in line is rarely a good leadership strategy outside the military. Those who refuse to fall in line can often offer innovation and creativity.

  3. “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.” – Steve Jobs
    Tough love can often backfire in leadership situations. You’re not the team’s mum or dad, and acting like it can make them become dependent on you in detrimental ways.

  4. “Leadership is getting people to work for you when they are not obligated.” – Fred Smith
    Actually, leadership isn’t really about the work. It’s about the people. If your sole goal as a leader is for the team to work overtime without pay, you may be missing the bigger picture.

  5. “Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream.” – Malcolm Muggeridge
    First of all, I question his grasp of biology, but second of all, going against the stream just for the sake of being different isn’t a great leadership tactic at all.

  6. “Success in almost any field depends more on energy and drive than it does on intelligence. This explains why we have so many stupid leaders.” – Sloan Wilson
    I’m not even sure where to go with this one, except to say that intelligence is — of course — a key attribute of a good leader, as are energy and drive.

  7. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John Maxwell
    Catchy, but what does it actually mean? In truth, a great leader doesn’t have all the answers, and needs to be willing and able to ask others for help.

  8. “Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.” – John Naisbitt
    Wait, what? It sounds like he’s telling people to rush in at the last second and take credit for someone else’s hard work.

  9. “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

  10. The idea that you should somehow “protect” your team from your fears is erroneous. In fact, research has shown that when you share fears with your team, it builds trust.

  11. “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” –Benjamin Disraeli
    While I think there’s a noble sentiment buried in there, a leader can’t depend on mob mentality or judgement to lead — if he does, why bother having a leader in the first place?

  12. “The question, ‘Who ought to be boss?’ is like asking, ‘Who ought to be the tenor in the quartet?’ Obviously, the man who can sing tenor.” –Henry Ford
    I feel like I should play a sad trombone noise here. It sounds as though Mr. Ford believed in the manifest destiny theory of leadership. Instead, leaders should always be looking to mentor and groom team members to become leaders themselves.