A Quote by Colin Powell

Leaders have followers. The primary role of a leader is to convey to those followers a sense of purpose, vision, and mission.

Colin Powell

Quote Topics

Convey Followers Leader Leaders Mission Primary Purpose Role Sense Those Vision

Quote Author

Colin Powell
American - Statesman
Born: April 5, 1937

Not many of us will be leaders; and even those who are leaders must also be followers much of the time. This is the crucial role. Followers judge leaders. Only if the leaders pass that test do they have any impact. The potential followers, if their judgment is poor, have judged themselves. If the leader takes his or her followers to the goal, to great achievements, it is because the followers were capable of that kind of response.

Garry Wills

A leader's job is to develop committed followers. Bad leaders destroy their followers' sense of commitment.

Dean Smith

Trust is perhaps the most critical single building block underlying effectiveness. Without trust leaders do not have followers. Without trust, leaders are impotent despite great rhetoric or splendid ideas. Trust rests on the belief among followers that the leader is transparent: What you see is what there is. Trust means followers believe there is no duplicity; no manipulation just to satisfy the leader's ego. Very simply: The effective leader is transparent; that's why that person is trusted.

Judith M Bardwick

The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers... Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership.

Garry Wills

The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers. ... Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership.

Garry Wills

Wise leaders understand that the single greatest determinant of whether followers will ever own a vision deeply is the extent to which whose followers believe the leader will own it.

Bill Hybels

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 K. Greenleaf

Often, in a given project team or network, one sees leadership roles shifting among various members at various times. Attempts to fit these into traditional views of "leader" and "follower" don't quite work. It's more like Twitter: the "leader" has "followers" - but the "followers" are empowered to alter the relationship unilaterally, and the "leader" must continually earn the consent of the "followers."

James M Strock

Respect for leaders by followers can't be mandated; it must be earned. It has to be given to leaders by their followers.

Colin Powell

Leaders evoke emotional connections in followers only to the extent that the followers are emotionally needy.

Judith M Bardwick

Followers are the customers of the Higher Ground Leader, who strives to meet or exceed the outer and inner needs of followers.

Lance Secretan

Leader and followers are both following the invisible leader - the common purpose. The best executives put this common purpose clearly before their group. While leadership depends on depth of conviction and the power coming therefrom there must also be the ability to share that conviction with others, the ability to make purpose articulate. And then that common purpose becomes the leader.

Mary Parker Follett

Leader and followers are both following the invisible leader-the common purpose.

Mary Parker Follett

The new leader is one who commits people to action, who converts followers into leaders, and who may convert leaders into agents of change.

Warren G. Bennis

All religious leaders and spiritual teachers emphasize finding a place within us that is true. People who obsessively follow these leaders instead of their own purpose attach to the spiritual leader and become fanatical and controlling. That's why Jesus tried to tell his followers not to get attached to outward form.