Gifford Thomas > Quotes

“Establishing a compelling direction, a vision for the future, and the strategies for how to get there. ● Aligning people, communicating the direction, building shared understanding, getting people to believe in the vision, and persuading and influencing people to follow that vision. ● Motivating and inspiring people to enact the kind of change that you have articulated.”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“The renowned leadership expert Warren Bennis, who authored 30 leadership books, including one of my favorites, On Becoming a Leader, indicated that: “a leader is not simply someone who experiences the personal exhilaration of being in charge. Instead, a leader is someone whose actions have the most profound consequences on other people’s lives, for better or for worse, sometimes forever and ever.”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“Unfortunately, if you fear failure as a leader, your comfort zone will give you all the reasons to settle for a life far below your God-given potential.”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“The great leaders know that their team is the backbone of the company and any success the organization achieves comes from their employee’s love of the company, the belief in the vision and a strong attachment to the company purpose.”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“If you fear failure as a leader, your comfort zone will give you all the reasons to settle for a life far below your God-given potential.”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“Explaining the why of the change ● The selection of your communication channels ● Tailoring of your message to the different stakeholder groups ● Maintaining consistency in your message, and continuously repeating the message ● Leadership commitment and the important role of the line manager”
― Gifford Thomas, Communication For Change Management: Mastering Communication To Architect Change

“Creating a communication plan within your change management strategy is critical. As mentioned above, you should identify target audiences, determine key messages, choose the preferred sender, and select the appropriate communication channels for that message.”
― Gifford Thomas, Communication For Change Management: Mastering Communication To Architect Change

“Anyone can bark out orders. It doesn’t take strength to yell at people, write them up or blame them for mistakes. It doesn’t take courage to boss people around in private and public when the organizational chart gives them the power to do that. It is the height of cowardice to manage a team with the presumption that they have to listen to you, because of your job title relative to theirs.”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world usually do.” Steve Jobs”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“It makes absolutely no sense to recruit the best and tell them what to do if you are the leader, you should not be the smartest person in the room. According to Michael Dell, try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people … or find a different room. You can’t grow as a leader unless you have the brightest and most innovative people in your corner. Leaders don’t need to have all the answers; no one is an expert in everything – not even you.”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“When you are called to lead, you are called to serve. You become the servant because leadership is all about being of service to others.”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“According to Michael Dell, try never to be the most intelligent person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people ... or find a different room. You can’t grow as a leader unless you have the brightest and most innovative people in your corner. Leaders don’t need to have all the answers; no one is an expert in everything – not even you.”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible

“As Greg Savage points out in his article, “People don’t leave companies, they leave Leaders,’ when employees leave it’s not “the company” they blame. It’s not the location, or the team, or the database, or the air-conditioning. It’s the leadership!”
― Gifford Thomas, The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible