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41 quotes, page 1 of 2For team leaders, shift managers and supervisors
And for the managers, directors, chief executives and boards above them. People leave the person running their shift more often than they leave the job.
We say who really said each one, and where the credit is uncertain we tell you. Every card is ours to share.
“The servant-leader is servant first.”
Robert K. Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader (1970). Greenleaf coined the idea of servant leadership. Lines like "the heart of leadership is serving others" are passed round without an author; this is where the idea comes from.
For managers: the supervisor who sorts out the broken scanner and the missing hours before being asked is the one people stay for.
“The proof of leadership is found in the followers.”
John C. Maxwell
A shift manager is measured by who turns up for the next shift, and who asks to stay on your team.
“Trust is the foundation of leadership.”
John C. Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. His "Law of Solid Ground".
Pay people what you said, when you said. Every other thing a manager wants is built on that.
“All good leaders are connectors.”
John C. Maxwell
Learn the names on your shift, and one thing about each person. It costs nothing and people remember it for years.
“If you listen to them, they'll listen to you.”
Attributed to John Wooden, the basketball coach. Widely credited to Wooden; we could not find where he first said it.
Ask the picker why the line is slow before telling them to go faster. Nine times out of ten, they already know.
“With great power there must also come great responsibility.”
Stan Lee, Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962), the first Spider-Man story. Lee wrote the line as a caption; the films later gave it to Uncle Ben.
Whoever writes the rota decides who gets the weekend and who gets the nights. Do it fairly and in the open.
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
John C. Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (1998)
The supervisor who has picked, packed and loaded can show a new starter how. That is why they listen.
“Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.”
John C. Maxwell, Developing the Leader Within You (1993)
You do not need the title to lead a shift. You need people to follow your example.
“Teamwork makes the dream work.”
John C. Maxwell, the title of his book (2002)
A shift hits its numbers when everyone covers each other's breaks without being asked.
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Stephen R. Covey, First Things First (1994)
Safe, on time, right first time. Everything else on the shift comes after those three.
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
Attributed to Peter Drucker. Warren Bennis wrote almost the same line in 1985 ("Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing").
A manager hits the target. A leader asks whether it is the right target.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Often attributed to Peter Drucker. Also credited to Abraham Lincoln. The computer scientist Alan Kay said "The best way to predict the future is to invent it" in 1971.
Waiting to see what the agency offers is one plan. Applying directly to the five firms you want is a better one.
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
Peter Drucker, Harvard Business Review (1963)
Before you speed up a job, ask whether anybody still needs it done.
“Many hands make light work.”
English proverb, recorded by John Heywood (1546)
Ask for help on the heavy lift. Offer it when you see someone struggling.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
A proverb, often called African. Its exact origin has never been traced.
Good shifts are built by teams, and so are long careers.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Helen Keller, as quoted by Joseph P. Lash in Helen and Teacher (1980)
The fastest shift is the one where nobody says "not my job".
“Leaders eat last.”
Simon Sinek, the title of his book (2014). A phrase he took from the US Marine Corps.
The team gets its break first. The manager covers the floor.
“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.”
Colin Powell, the last of his 13 rules (1989)
A calm supervisor on a bad night is worth two extra pairs of hands.
“Individual commitment to a group effort: that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
Vince Lombardi
Every person on the shift doing their part is what makes the whole site work.
“Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people.”
Steve Jobs, CBS 60 Minutes interview (2003)
The best managers hire people better than themselves and let them get on with it.
“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to.”
Richard Branson (2014)
Good training is not a risk. A team that is badly trained and stays is the real one.
“If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
Richard Branson, as widely quoted
Happy staff answer the phone differently. Customers can hear it.
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
Jack Welch, Winning (2005)
The new team leader's job is to make the team better, not to be the best picker any more.
“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”
Ralph Nader
Train your own replacement. It is how you get the next job up.
“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.”
Arnold H. Glasow
When the shift goes wrong, the manager says "we". When it goes right, they say "they".
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Often attributed to John Quincy Adams. There is no record of him saying it; it first appears in print around 2000. Also credited to Dolly Parton.
Leadership is not the title on the badge. It is who the new starters copy.
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
Often attributed to Henry Ford. A version was used by Edward Everett Hale in the 19th century.
Hiring is the beginning. Keeping good people is the real work.
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
Ernest Hemingway, as quoted by Dorothy Parker in The New Yorker (1929)
Peak season, short-staffed, the system down. Calm is a skill, and it gets people promoted.
“Leadership is not about a title or a designation.”
Robin Sharma, The Leader Who Had No Title (2010)
The operative who helps the new starter is leading already. Managers notice.
“In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.”
Deepak Chopra
Peak season, a full yard, phones ringing: the calm person is the one everyone looks to.
Other sections
- Work and keeping going (189)
- Starting a business (152)
- For leaders (41)
- Working with people (22)
- Mindset and habits (144)
- True stories of people who started small