Robert K. Greenleaf Quotes

#1. Love without laughter can be grim and oppressive. Laughter without love can be derisive and venomous. Together they make for greatness of spirit.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#2. Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#3. A statement of vision is the overarching purpose, the big dream, the visionary concept-something presently out of reach-so stated that it excites the imagination and chlalenges people to work for something they do not yet know how to do.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#4. On an important decision one rarely has 100% of the information needed for a good decision no matter how much one spends or how long one waits. And, if one waits too long, he has a different problem and has to start all over. This is the terrible dilemma of the hesitant decision maker.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#5. Ego can't sleep. It micro-manages. It disempowers. It reduces our capability. It excels in control.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#6. Nothing much happens without a dream. For something really great to happen, it takes a really great dream.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#7. The servant-leader is servant first ... It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first ...

Robert K. Greenleaf

#8. Faith is the choice of the nobler hypothesis.' Not the noblest, one never knows what that is. But the nobler, the best one can see when the choice is made.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#9. The only test of leadership is that somebody follows.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#10. The work exists for the person as much as the person exists for the work.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#11. Leadership must first and foremost meet the needs of others.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#12. The best leaders are clear. They continually light the way, and in the process, let each person know that what they do makes a difference. The best test as a leader is: Do those served grow as persons; do they become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become leaders?

Robert K. Greenleaf

#13. Where there is not community, trust, respect, ethical behavior are difficult for the young to learn and for the old to maintain.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#14. For the person with creative potential there is no wholeness except in using it.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#15. Good leaders must first become good servants.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#16. The quality of a society will be judged by what the least privileged in it achieves.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#17. Even the frankest and bravest of subordinates do not talk with their boss the same way they talk with colleagues.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#18. Not much happens without a dream. And for something great to happen, there must be a great dream. Behind every great achievement is a dreamer of great dreams. Much more than a dreamer is required to bring it to reality; but the dream must be there first.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#19. Purpose and laughter are the twins that must not separate. Each is empty without the other.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#20. Behind every great achievement is a dreamer of great dreams.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#21. A Leader is one who ventures and takes the risks of going out ahead to show the way and whom others follow, voluntarily, because they are persuaded that the leader's path is the right one-for them, probably better than they could devise for themselves.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#22. Servant leadership always empathizes, always accepts the person, but sometimes refuses to accept some of the person's effort or performance as good enough.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#23. Don't assume, because you are intelligent, able, and well-motivated, that you are open to communication, that you know how to listen.

Robert K. Greenleaf

#24. The most serious failure of leadership is the failure to foresee

Robert K. Greenleaf