
“Observe leaders closely, learn as much as you can from their leadership styles.”
How I made it: CNR Rao, Scientist (2010)
Warren Bennis (1999) Managing People Is Like Herding Cats. p. 163
1990s
“Observe leaders closely, learn as much as you can from their leadership styles.”
How I made it: CNR Rao, Scientist (2010)
University of Colorado Leeds School of Business Commencement Address (2013)
reported in Donald T. Phillips, Run To Win: Vince Lombardi on Coaching and Leadership (2001), pg. 180.
“People are born; leaders are made.”
Source: My Share Of The Task (2013), p. 393
Context: People are born; leaders are made. I was born the son of a leader with a clear path to a profession of leadership. But whatever leadership I later possessed, I learned from others. I grew up in a household of overt values, many of which hardened in me only as I matured. Although history fascinated me, and mentors surrounded me, the overall direction and key decisions of my life and career were rarely impacted by specific advice, or even a particularly relevant example I'd read or seen. I rarely wondered What would Nelson, Buford, Grant, or my father have done? But as I grew, I was increasingly aware of the guideposts and guardrails that leaders had set for me, often through their examples. The question became What kind of leader have I decided to be? Over time, decisions came easily against that standard, even when the consequences were grave.
N. Nohria & Rakesh Khurana (2010). "Advancing leadership theory and practice." In N. Nohria & R. Khurana (Eds.), Handbook of leadership theory and practice. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. p. 3
Source: Organization and Management: Selected Papers (1948), p. 240; cited in: Philip Selznick, Leadership in Administration: A Sociological Interpretation, 1957, p. 32.
Verwoerd in 1963, as quoted and translated by J. J. Venter in H.F. Verwoerd: Foundational aspects of his thought, Koers 64(4) 1999: 415–442