Max de Pree

The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?

We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.

We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.

In some South Pacific cultures, a speaker holds a conch shell as a symbol of temporary position of authority. Leaders must understand who holds the conch that is, who should be listened to and when.

The greatest thing is, at any moment, to be willing to give up who we are in order to become all that we can be.

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.