John Adair > Quotes

“Communication is the sister of leadership”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“Effective leaders treat individuals differently but equally”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“praise and recognition based upon performance are the oxygen of the human spirit”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“People expect their Leaders to help them to achieve the common task. to build the synergy of teamwork and to respond to individuals and meet their needs”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“Those occupying leadership roles who completely lack integrity are what we call 'Blind shepherds'. They are not really 'bad' leaders, because they are not leaders at all: they are misleaders.”
― John Adair, The Leadership of Muhammad

“Humble people know their limitations: they know what they know, and they know what they do not know; they know what they can do or be, and they know what they cannot do or be”
― John Adair, The Leadership of Muhammad

“There is the authority of position and the authority of knowledge - 'Authority flows from the one who knows.' But sharing in hardship confers upon a leader something quite rare - moral authority.”
― John Adair, The Leadership of Muhammad

“Perhaps one day they will add about you as their leader, "And you made a difference" That is the true reward of Leadership”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“You cannot be a military leader without physical courage. But there are Plenty of soldiers with physical courage who are not leaders”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“Integrity is the noblest possession.
-Latin Proverb.”
― John Adair, The Leadership of Muhammad

“The price of excellence in teamwork is eternal vigilance”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“integrity means both personal wholeness and adherence to values outside yourself - especially goodness and truth”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“A manager will take six months to get to know his staff, but they will take only six days to get to know him”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“The more that people share decisions affecting their working life, the more they are motivated to carry them out”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“Instinctively, a common feeling exists that "United we stand, divided we fall", that good relationship, desirable in themselves, are also an essential means towards the shared end.”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“There is a useful distinction between good leaders and leaders of good”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“All groups and Organisation are unique”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“A good manager is now by definition a leader. Equally, a good leader will also be a manger”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“Humans are not machines, and some of their energy during the day will go into discussions or activities unrelated to the common task.
Within reason, this "time wasting" is acceptable, but it can become a problem in a team that does not have a really positive attitude to the common task”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“Work groups and organization come into being because there is a task to be done that is too big for one person”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“Developing self-confidence is always the preliminary to becoming a leader. but don't let it become overconfidence, the first station on the track leading to arrogance”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“Leadership is essentially an other-centred activity not self centred one”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“Success is often to be found at the edge of failure”
― John Adair, Develop Your Leadership Skills

“In the harsh conditions of Arabia it was necessary for leaders and followers to live and work together side by side. Therefore leadership was never hierarchical. A leader was among the people, not over them. p 58”
― John Adair, The Leadership of Muhammad

“I have always endeavored to listen to chat each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion" (Mandela - p 31)”
― John Adair, The Leadership of Muhammad

“The pure-bred mare is not shamed by its trappings. p56”
― John Adair, The Leadership of Muhammad

“So, what qualities must you have to be a good delegator?
There are five main tips:
1 Choose the right staff.
2 Train them.
3 Take care in briefing them, and ensuring their understanding of the `why' and `how to' oftasks delegated to them (and in imparting to them an understanding ofbusiness aims and policies).
4 Try not to interfere - stand back and support.
5 Control in a sensible and sensitive manner by checking progress at agreed intervals.”
― John Adair, 100 Greatest Ideas for Effective Leadership and Management

“Ten soldiers wisely led, Will beat a hundred without a head Euripides (fifth century BC)”
― John Adair, Strategic Leadership: How to Think and Plan Strategically and Provide Direction

“No Bedouin wished to be outdone in showing kindness to a guest in his tent - or to be shamed by the charge of not being open-handed or magnanimous. p 55”
― John Adair, The Leadership of Muhammad

“they will have the right to expect from you the highest standards of character, professional competence and integrity.”
― John Adair, How to Grow Leaders: The Seven Key Principles of Effective Leadership Development