“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”
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Henry Kissinger 50
United States Secretary of State 1923–2023Related quotes

The Great Master of Thought (Amen- Vol.3), Observing management

“Where I come from, people like that get slapped”
Diaz warning Ariel Helwani, a sports reporter, about instigating fights (April 2011)
“You cannot know where your people are going if you don't know where your people have been.”
Source: The Education of Little Tree

Interview on Abu Dhabi TV http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP91805, June 1, 2005
“People more willingly follow a leader who knows where he is going.”

"Yeeeeeeessssssssss!"
Live at the Apollo (November 26, 2007)

Only the final bold section is connected to Laozi (see Ch. 17 of Tao Te Ching above). The origin of the added first section is unclear.
Misattributed
Variant: A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
Context: "Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. With the best leaders when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, "We have done this ourselves."

“Where your fear is, there is your task.”