In the Tao Te Ching , the ancient Chinese mystic Lao Tzu said, “A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aims fulfilled, they will all say, "We did this ourselves."

Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, quoted in the July 21, 2008 issue of Fortune:

From Mark Hurd, Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, quoted in the May 12, 2008 issue of Fortune magazine:

"Nine years after starting at NCR, I moved to a head-office job in Dayton in 1988. An NCR executive was giving a presentation; he had great slides and an even better delivery. The CEO, Chuck Exley, listened to the entire presentation in his typically gracious, courteous manner. At the conclusion, he nodded and said something brief but profound: "Good story, but it’s hard to look smart with bad numbers." And as I reflected on it, the presenter, articulate as he was, as good as his slides were, simply had bad numbers.



That comment has always stayed with me. You have to focus on the underlying substance. There’s just no way to disguise poor performance. I’ve tried to follow that advice throughout my career. Deliver good numbers and you earn the right for people to listen to you."

Check this out in The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/i_will_do_whatever_it_takes_to?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

From Joanna Shields, President of Bebo.com, quoted in the May 12, 2008 issue of Fortune magazine:

"I go back to things my dad said: "Your career is long and the business world is small.  Always act with integrity.  Never take the last dollar off the table."...You can always do a slightly better deal, but that incremental dollar or windfall is not worth creating an imbalance that affects the relationship.  You have to have the intuition to know when to say, "I’m going to make sure that we walk away feeling like we’ve both done well.""

Sam Palmisano, Chairman and CEO of IBM, quoted in the May 12, 2008 issue of Fortune magazine:

"Over the course of my career, I’ve observed many CEOs, heads of state, and others in positions of great authority. I’ve noticed that some of the most effective leaders don’t make themselves the center of attention. They are respectful.  They listen. This is an appealing personal quality, but it’s also an effective leadership attribute. Their selflessness makes the people around them comfortable. People open up, speak up, and contribute. They give those leaders their very best."

From Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of Pepsico, and an extraordinary leader (quoted in Fortune, May 21, 2008):

"My father was an absolutely wonderful human being.  From him I learned to always assume positive intent.  Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent.  You will be amazed at how your whole approach to a person or problem becomes very different. When you assume negative intent, you’re angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response. You don’t get defensive. You don’t scream. You are trying to understand and listen because at your basic core you are saying, “Maybe they are saying something to me that I’m not hearing.”"

From an article in the July 21, 2008 issue of Fortune, a word of wisdom from John Wooden, the former UCLA men’s basketball coach who led his team to a record 10 NCAA championships:

From an article in the July 21, 2008 issue of Fortune, a word of wisdom from John Wooden, the former UCLA men’s basketball coach who led his team to a record 10 NCAA championships:

"The leader has to command respect of all those under his supervision - and he must be open to those under his supervision. Effective leadership means having a lot of people working toward a common goal. And when you have that with no one caring who gets the credit, you’re going to accomplish a lot. If you have those just wanting the credit for themselves, you’re not going to get as much accomplished.” [on the key to successful leadership]