--- title: 5 Leadership Quotes from Progressive Thinkers that Your Business Should Embrace description: Here are five leadership quotes from progressive thinkers that your business should embrace, and to be the best, you must learn from the best. image: https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hubfs/A11%20-%20F.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/5-leadership-quotes-from-progressive-thinkers-that-your-business-should-embrace#main-content) [![BK Logo Transparent-1](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BK%20Logo%20Transparent-1.png?width=2400&height=600&name=BK%20Logo%20Transparent-1.png "BK Logo Transparent-1")](https://bkconnection.com) - [Bookstore](https://www.bkconnection.com) - Search Search Search - [Leadership](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/topic/leadership), - [Personal Development](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/topic/personal-development) # 5 Leadership Quotes from Progressive Thinkers that Your Business Should Embrace ![A11 - F](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hubfs/A11%20-%20F.jpg) - December 27, 2017 ![Maren Fox](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hubfs/MF_avatar.jpg) [Maren Fox](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/author/maren-fox) To be the best, you must learn from the best. This is especially relevant with leadership. To paraphrase Ray Kroc—the businessman who built McDonald’s into the [most successful fast food corporation in the world](http://www.businessinsider.com/most-successful-fast-food-chains-in-america-2017-8)—the quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set. Although “standards” might refer to tangible experiences such as training and development, value-based standards are important and can be culled from some of the greatest thought leaders throughout history. # Here are five leadership quotes that your business should embrace: **1. “The duty of a leader is to create an organization where it is easy to practice kindness.” —Kim Cameron** Educator and author Kim Cameron has been credited as being one of the founders of positive organizational scholarship (POS). In his books, such as [*Positive Leadership*](https://www.bkconnection.com/books/title/positive-leadership), Cameron analyzes the social constructs, values, and processes that contribute to an organization’s success. POS, which was named one of *Harvard Business Review’s* “[Breakthrough Ideas for 2004](https://hbr.org/2004/02/breakthrough-ideas-for-2004),” measures the results of being good and practicing kindness. Cameron posits that an organization that practices kindness is more successful over time because kindness increases positive emotions and well-being, which, in turn, improves relationships and amplifies employees’ abilities and creativity. Kindness not only  suppresses negative experiences, such as stress, but it also improves employees’ abilities to respond to challenges. Finally, it attracts employees and makes them more loyal to leadership. By practicing kindness, leaders can drive real results in a natural, positive way. **2. "Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work." —Seth Godin** [Seth Godin](http://www.sethgodin.com), a best-selling author and former tech executive, is one of today’s most recognizable thought leaders (he’s the bald guy with the glasses!). At its core, this leadership quote explains how leaders must empower others to think on their own. Providing your team with autonomy can increase motivation and loyalty. It’s up to managers to establish strategic direction, deadlines, and benchmarks. Then allow employees to determine how to move forward. [![Does your organization rely on control, class systems, or top-down leadership tactics? Now is the time to change. Download our free infographic for a better way.](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2998717/215a989f-ad60-4c67-89d4-513f0ae40960.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2998717/215a989f-ad60-4c67-89d4-513f0ae40960) Contextually, this suggests that autonomy is the opposite of micromanagement.This coincides with the notion that self-chosen goals create a special kind of motivation called “intrinsic motivation,” which is the desire to do something for its own sake. Intrinsic motivation comes from within an individual—out of will and interest in the activity at hand. And, as Godin suggests, empowering individuals to set their own objectives results in goals that they care about accomplishing. **3. “In organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions.” —Margaret J. Wheatley** Margaret J. Wheatley is a respected American writer and management consultant who studies organizational behavior. Her book [*Leadership and the New Science*](https://www.bkconnection.com/books/title/leadership-and-the-new-science)*,* which has been lauded as “one of the top ten business books of all time,” is an influential guide that applies new science to organizations and management. In it, Wheatley describes how science can guide and alter our understanding of the world, as well as our perception of leadership. In this quote, Wheatley suggests that relationships are an integral component of leadership. Wheatley uses science to illustrate how life is a vast web of interconnections and how relationships emerge from these connections. She references how new understandings of change and disorder have emerged from chaos theory and how order and chaos now represent a larger relationship. “Without the partnering of these two great forces, no change or progress is possible,” says Wheatley. Instead, “chaos is necessary to new creative ordering.” For Wheatley, the ideas of chaos and change illustrate progress—and leadership must be built on the patterns and relationships that science helps illustrate. **4. “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” —Peter Drucker** Often referred to as “the father of modern management,” Peter Drucker is an influential management consultant, educator, and author [whose teachings remain relevant today](https://www.bkconnection.com/books/title/living-in-more-than-one-world). By juxtaposing the concepts of “management” and “leadership,” quotes from Drucker often reference both a dichotomy and a similarity between the two ideas. Management typically requires individuals to play by the book. To rise to the top, prospects must possess specific skills to produce established results, such as hitting an established quota or revenue goal. However, the difference between a manager and a leader is that the former have people *work for* them, while the latter have people who *follow* them. Admittedly, a successful leader must possess management skills, such as the ability to direct and execute, but leaders must possess characteristics such as honesty, vision, and inspiration to challenge the status quo and truly innovate. **5. “Moral authority is another way to define servant leadership because it represents a reciprocal choice between leader and follower. If the leader is principle centered, he or she will develop moral authority. If the follower is principle centered, he or she will follow the leader. In this sense, both leaders and followers are followers. Why? They follow truth. They follow natural law. They follow principles. They follow a common, agreed-upon vision. They share values. They grow to trust one another.” —Robert Greenleaf** Servant leadership is an approach to leadership that puts employees, customers, and community first and distributes the wealth of power across an entire organization. Coined by [Robert Greenleaf](https://www.bkconnection.com/users/robertgreenleaf), who was the director of management research at AT&T and an influential founder of the modern servant leadership movement, servant leadership emphasizes trust, collaboration, and active listening. Although Greenleaf’s first essay was published in the 1970s, his ideas still ring true today. In a 2015 servant leadership study of more than 950 employees at Jason’s Deli restaurants in 10 U.S. metropolitan areas, the University of Illinois at Chicago found that [when organizations leverage servant leadership](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150506084804.htm), only good things can happen. In the study, job performance increased by 6 percent, customer service increased by 8 percent, and employee retention increased by 50 percent, illustrating perfectly what Greenleaf wisely knew: , Servant leadership encourages growth by unlocking employee purpose. A leader that puts the needs of their followers ahead of their own ensures everyone has the tools to succeed. Blog Post ## Related Articles Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. [![](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hubfs/Core%20Site%20Assets/Banners/hero-banner_pink-clouds.jpg)](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/what-is-a-servant-leader) [Leadership](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/topic/leadership) ### [What Is a Servant Leader?](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/what-is-a-servant-leader) August 25, 2017 Servant Leadership Primer Part 1: What Is a Servant Leader? People who first hear the phrase servant leader often ask... [Read more](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/what-is-a-servant-leader) [![Blog 52 - Hero - Final](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/hubfs/Blog%20Post%20Assets/Hero%20Images/What%20Took%20So%20Long%20for%20Servant%20Leadership%20to%20Grab%20the%20Headlines%3F.jpg)](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/what-took-so-long-for-servant-leadership-to-grab-the-headlines) [Leadership](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/topic/leadership), [Personal Development](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/topic/personal-development) ### [What Took So Long for Servant Leadership to Grab the Headlines?](https://ideas.bkconnection.com/what-took-so-long-for-servant-leadership-to-grab-the-headlines) November 7, 2018 Five decades ago, Robert Greenleaf proposed a radical yet simple idea: in order for leaders to truly be great, they... 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