When you need a leadership quote (whether it’s for your personal mood board or an all-hands preso), you want it to express something profound, to encapsulate a deeper truth that aligns with your message. And we can only get so much inspiration from Vince Lombardi.
Here are 20 fresh leadership quotes to inspire you, with nary a clichéd platitude in sight.
20 inspirational leadership quotes
“Be the leader you wish you had.”
– Simon Sinek, author, speaker, and CEO of The Optimism Company
“One of the keys to good leadership is good followership.”
– James Cameron, film director, screenwriter, and producer
“Instruction does much, but encouragement, everything.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, playwright, and novelist
“Innovation does not entail having new ideas, but rather getting rid of old beliefs.”
– Bertrand Piccard, Swiss psychiatrist and aeronaut, and first balloonist to circumnavigate the Earth
“Her grandma saw something in me, so I started looking for it too.”
– Buzz Lightyear, space ranger
“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.”
– Paulo Coelho, Brazilian writer best known for his novel The Alchemist
“Safe is the new risky.”
– Kathy Klotz, speaker, author, creativity strategist, and improv comedian
“Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.”
– Deepak Chopra, alternative medicine advocate, public speaker, and author
“Only if we understand will we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help will we all be saved.”
– Jane Goodall, primatologist
“Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.”
– Gloria Steinem, activist
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
– Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister
“You can’t change conditions. Just the way you deal with them.”
– Jessica Watson, sailor
“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”
– Malala Yousafzai, activist
“If a person is drowning, they must be rescued regardless of their religion or nationality.”
– Irena Sendlerowa, Polish war hero
“The main thing about being ‘heroic’ is helping others.”
– Sarinya Srisakul, NYC firefighter
“You must figure out your own destination and the best route to get there because no one else knows the way.”
– Nadia Comaneci, gymnast
“If it’s a good idea, go ahead and do it.”
– Grace Hopper, Navy codebreaker and computer scientist
“If you have to choose between an easy thing and a hard thing, the hard one’s usually a lot more fun.”
– Samantha Cristoforetti, astronaut
“If you’re lucky enough to be different, don’t ever change.”
– Khoudia Diop, model
“Never be afraid to be a poppy in a field of daffodils.”
– Michaela Deprince, ballerina