I’d like to share an excellent post that I found on the TechRepublic Website. John McKee wrote it – “5 CEO’s best leadership tips.” Read it. It is concise and gets straight to the point – just like a good quotation.

Here are the 5 tips – followed by a quotation that I have selected to build-on each point:

• Focus on the real world.
  • “After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. After ten years, throw it away and start all over.” – Alfred Edward Perlman
• Don’t get emotional.
  • “The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.” – John Holt
• Good leaders exhibit great calm.
  • “Knowing what’s the right thing to do is usually easy, but consistently doing the right thing in the face of adversity is something else.  That is the true test of character.” – Judith Molloy
• There is always more time than it seems.
  • “The importance of a decision is not what it will cost but how difficult it will be to reverse.” – Peter Drucker
• Even a weak manager can look good with a great team.
  • “None of us is as smart as all of us.” – Roy Disney

I appreciate a writer who gets straight to the point. John McKee does so in this article. He organizes the key characteristics of leadership into a list. A list is selective. A list helps us to remember key points. Quotations distill important concepts down to a few words. Quotations are also memorable. That’s why I like them and use them often.