Ronald A. Heifetz Quotes

• Progress on problems is the measure of leadership; leaders mobilize people to face problems, and communities make progress on problems because leaders challenge them and help them to do so.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Leadership, People, Community

  Ronald A. HEIFETZ, Ronald A Heifetz (2009). “Leadership Without Easy Answers”, p.15, Harvard University Press

  22 Copy quote

• Conflict is the primary engine of creativity and innovation. People don't learn by staring into a mirror; people learn by encountering difference.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Leadership, Creativity, Mirrors

  23 Copy quote

• What people resist is not change per se, but loss.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Loss, People

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.185, Harvard Business Review Press

  13 Copy quote

• The improvisational ability to lead adaptively relies on responding to the present situation rather than importing the past into the present and laying it on the current situation like an imperfect template.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Past, Imperfect, Currents

  16 Copy quote

• And leadership then is about mobilizing and engaging the people with the problem rather than trying to anesthetize them so you can go off and solve it on your own.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  People, Trying, Problem

  "Lessons In Leadership: It's Not About You. (It's About Them)". "Morning Edition" with Linda Wertheimer, www.npr.org. November 11, 2013.

  23 Copy quote

• But to practice leadership, you need to accept that you are in the business of generating chaos, confusion, and conflict

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Practice, Confusion, Needs

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2013). “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World”, p.203, Harvard Business Press

  25 Copy quote

• Exercising adaptive leadership is about giving meaning to your life beyond your own ambition.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Ambition, Exercise, Giving

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.320, Harvard Business Review Press

  20 Copy quote

• Your behavior reflects your actual purposes.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Purpose, Behavior

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2013). “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World”, p.219, Harvard Business Press

  50 Copy quote

• Attention is the currency of leadership.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Attention, Currency

  Ronald A. HEIFETZ, Ronald A Heifetz (2009). “Leadership Without Easy Answers”, p.113, Harvard University Press

  13 Copy quote

• Yesterday's adaptations are today's routines.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Yesterday, Today, Adaptation

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.204, Harvard Business Review Press

  12 Copy quote

• Knowing how the environment is pulling your strings and playing you is critical to making responsive rather than reactive moves.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Moving, Knowing, Environment

  20 Copy quote

• Values are shaped and refined by rubbing against real problems, and people interpret their problems according to the values they hold.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Real, People, Problem

  Ronald A. HEIFETZ, Ronald A Heifetz (2009). “Leadership Without Easy Answers”, p.22, Harvard University Press

  21 Copy quote

• Worry not that your child listens to you; worry most that they watch you.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Children, Worry, Watches

  14 Copy quote

• Your inspiration taps hidden reserves of promise that sustain people through times that induce despair. You enable people to envision a future that sustains the best from their past while also holding out new possibilities.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Inspiration, Past, People

  13 Copy quote

• Conflict is the primary engine of creativity and innovation.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Creativity, Innovation, Conflict

  9 Copy quote

• If you find what you do each day seems to have no link to any higher purpose, you probably want to rethink what you're doing.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Links, Want, Purpose

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.319, Harvard Business Review Press

  17 Copy quote

• Stay diagnostic even as you take action.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Action

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.254, Harvard Business Review Press

  9 Copy quote

• The activity of interpreting might be understood as listening for the 'song beneath the words.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Song, Listening, Might

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.193, Harvard Business Review Press

  19 Copy quote

• Exercising leadership is an expression of your aliveness... But when you cover yourself up, you risk losing something as well. In the struggle to save yourself, you can give up too many of those qualities that are the essence of being alive, like innocence, curiosity, and compassion.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Giving Up, Struggle, Exercise

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky (2013). “Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading”, p.119, Harvard Business Press

  10 Copy quote

• I think that notion of leadership is bankrupt.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Thinking, Notion

  "Lessons In Leadership: It's Not About You. (It's About Them)". "Morning Edition" with Linda Wertheimer, www.npr.org. November 11, 2013.

  9 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Robert Kegan

Warren G. Bennis

John P. Kotter

Margaret J. Wheatley

Peter Senge

Otto Scharmer

James C. Collins

Daniel Goleman