Must See: Inspiring Quotes for Leaders At Work

As leaders, we face many challenges. You may be asking questions like:

How will you hit your targets for the quarter?  

How can I keep everyone as safe as possible during this pandemic and still have a successful team?

How will you develop your people for next level performance?  

How will you engage your team?

In this article, we’ll take a breath, step back and offer inspiration for leaders like you to use at work.  I pulled these quotes together for you to help inspire you to evaluate your standards, elevate your mindset, and encourage purposeful action.

The ideas curated below are from artists, philosophers, politicians, writers, and entrepreneurs. I encourage you to pay special attention to how these quotes influence your perception of your standards – both your standards for yourself and your standards for your team.

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high, and we miss it, but that it’s too low and we reach it.

Michelangelo

The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.

Ray Kroc

Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.

President John F. Kennedy 

We don’t rise to the level of our goals; we fall to the level of our systems.

James Clear

We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.

Archilochus

We aim above the mark to hit the mark.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar.

Orrin Woodward

Trade your expectation for appreciation and the world changes instantly.

Tony Robbins

Be a yardstick of quality.  Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. 

Steve Jobs

There is no passion to be found in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

Nelson Mandela

When you raise your standards, your shoulds become your musts.

Tony Robbins

The reasonable man adapts itself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.  Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

George Bernard Shaw

Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him, than the title.

President George Washington

We all get what we tolerate.

Tony Robbins

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

Aristotle

So, what do you think?  Maybe a better question is how do you think, now?  Which quote was most meaningful to you?  How will you apply it today?  Let me know in the comments section below.

If you’re looking for more great quotes for leaders, click here.

Make it a great day!