21 Great Management Quotes

I love to collect great quotes! They help me think more clearly, and often they are more succinctly said than what I was thinking. When I do presentations, I put a few in to make a point. Tough to argue with famous old guys and gals :)

I asked a frequent commenter to share his favorite management quotes with me, and he shared some GREAT ones!  Thanks to Scott C. Griffin for sharing these quotes!

“The first people had questions and they were free. The second people had answers, and they became enslaved.” – Wind Eagle, American Indian Chief

“If you don’t like change, you’ll going to like irrelevance even less.” – General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

“It makes all the difference in the world whether we put truth in the first place, or in the second place.” – John Morley

“The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.” – Herbert Agar

“Great leaders build a workforce for the future. They are human capital developers. Great leaders always ask themselves: “Am I preparred for what’s next?” They invest in themselves by constantly learning.” – Jonathan Fietzer

“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends” – Walt Disney

“It is not a question of how well each process works; the question is how well they work together.” – Lloyd Dobens and Clare Crawford-Mason

“An ability to embrace new ideas, routinely challenge old ones, and live with paradox will be the effective leader’s premier trait.” – Tom Peters

“The highest challenge inside organizations is to enable each person to contribute his or her unique talents and passion to accomplish the organization’s purpose.” – Stephen R. Covey

“It is never too late to be who you might have been.” – George Eliot

“Leadership is a combination of strategy and character.  If you must be without one, be without the strategy.” – General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

“Trust becomes a verb when you communicate to others their worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.” – Stephen R. Covey

“I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life.  The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.” – Mark Twain

“Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but what you should have accomplished with your ability.” – John Wooden

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” – Anatole France

“For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action.  You just have to find it.  When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.” – Mary Kay Ash

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman

“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison

“Strategy gets you on the playing field, but execution pays the bills.” – George Eubanks

“A life isn’t significant except for isn’t impact on other lives.”  – Jackie Robinson

What’s YOUR favorite management quote? Share it below, and I’ll create a downloadable PDF with all of them that you can download and share!

Blackjack: Ace and Queen of Hearts photo credit to Phil Gerbyshak