One can lead a nation only by helping it see a bright outlook. A leader is a dealer in hope. Napoleon Bonaparte
One, who earns leadership of the masses by working ceaselessly for people’s welfare finally realizes that he has been rewarded with many added advantages. Atharva Veda
Tim: Team leader don’t mean anything, mate.
Gareth: Excuse me, it means I’m the leader of a team.
Tim: No it doesn’t – it’s a title someone’s given you to get you to do something they don’t want to do, for free. Right? It’s like making a div kid at school milk monitor. No-one respects it.
Gareth: I think they do.
Tim: No they don’t, Gareth.
Gareth: Er, yes they do, because if people were rude to me then I used to give them their milk last, so it was warm. The Office: Merger s2e1, Brent to new Swindon intake, BBC 2002
I am a leader: but you can only inspire people so much in a place like this. The Office US s8e8: Gettysburg, Andy, NBC 2011
Remember, I have not appointed you as commanders and tyrants over the people. I have sent you as leaders instead, so that the people may follow your example. Give the Muslims their rights and do not beat them lest they become abused. Do not praise them unduly, lest they fall into the error of conceit. Do not keep your doors shut in their faces, lest the more powerful of them eat up the weaker ones. And do not behave as if you were superior to them, for that is tyranny over them. Umar, cited Muhammad Shibli Numani, ‘Omar the Great: The Second Caliph of Islam’
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Warren Bennis
Nigerians are corrupt because the system under which they live makes corruption easy and profitable ... The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. I am saying that Nigeria can change today if she discovers leaders who have the will, the ability, and the vision. Chinua Achebe, writer 1983
‘An extremely dim view. On this circuit we have a tradition of loyalty to our leaders.’
‘It’s a local custom?’ John Mortimer, Rumpole and the Showfolk
Political leaders operate within a pretty narrow framework which is set by external factors, power systems of various kinds. Noam Chomsky, Obama’s Imperialist Policies, New York Peace Action Benefit, Youtube 56.24
There are many psychopaths that we encounter in our daily lives … What does this mean for human society especially a society that has been structured in a top-down hierarchical fashion in which a very few elite yield through their control of the financial, corporate, governmental and military structures that govern us, almost complete control over vast swathes of the population. The Corbett Report, Our Leaders are Psychopaths, James Corbett online, July 2017
Psychopathic leaders: Having no shame and no conscience, they’re obviously natural-born liars, they’re able to liar without feeling any sense of shame. ibid.
A disgusting ability to show callous disregard for human life and to inflict unspeakable pain and suffering on others without even a glimpse or a slight tingling of remorse. ibid.
‘In any society in this world, psychopathic individuals and some of the other deviants create a ponerogenically active network of common delusions, partially estranged from the community of normal people. Some inspirational role of the essential psychopathy in this network also appears to be a common phenomenon’. ibid. Dr Andrzej Lobaczewski, Political Ponerology
Just as psychopaths tend to rise in human society, so psychopathic corporations tend to rise in the corporate structure of the economic world. ibid.
Sometimes we disagree with the person at the top … Does society work best when organised around a strong leader? Or is there another better way? What makes a good leader? The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman s1e5: The Power of Us, National Geographic 2017
Any society that stops people from being who they truly are is bound to fall. ibid.
Lobbying, greed and corruption strip voters of their power. ibid.
I am alone. I am leader. No-one else. Humans s3e2, Max, Channel 4 2018
‘The real work is invisible. And it is invisibly spreading. The more you can make your organisation invisible, the more influence it will have.’ The Family I: Submersion, opening commentary, Netflix 2019
It took a long before I realised just who The Family was and the influence they have had on the leadership of our country. ibid. Jeff Sharlet, author
An invisible organisation who have been hiding in plain sight for eighty years. ibid.
A breathtaking enmeshment of church and state. ibid. woman
We would pray to be broken. We would pray to be nothing. We would pray to learn how to obey. ibid.
We are the new chosen. ibid.
The Cedars is this big white-pillared mansion … The seat of their power … ibid.
‘You guys are here to learn how to rule the world.’ ibid.
Jesus + Nothing: simultaneously banal and authoritarian. ibid.
Let’s be influential but let’s do it quietly. ibid.
What kind of influence did they want to have in the world. ibid.
So you had the hierarchy, the concentric rings. ibid.
A fundamentally anti-democratic movement … This organisation that denied it was an organisation was really one of the greatest networks of powerful figures in the world. ibid.
For The Family it’s all about relationships, the personal brother to brother relationship. The Family s1e2: Chosen
A secretive Christian organisation and one of the most influential religious groups in Washington. ibid.
People who believe they are chosen by God for leadership. ibid.
In the wake of the sex scandals and Clergy VOICE’s formal complaint, C-Street’s tax exempt status was partially revoked in 2009. The Fellowship denies any involvement with C-Street. Tax records suggest otherwise. ibid. caption
The National Prayer Breakfast is 100% the Family’s event. The Family s1e3: New World Order
It’s almost impossible to overstate The Family’s reach and access to governments all over the world. ibid.
And very quickly moved to the international level. The Family s1e4: Dictators, Murderers & Thieves
God cares most about the elites. ibid.
You are ready to lead these men. You are ready to become a member of the League of Shadows. Batman Begins 2005 starring Christian Bale & Gus Lewis & Michael Caine & Liam Neeson & Katie Holmes & Cillian Murphy & Gary Oldman & Tom Wilkinson & Morgan Freeman et al, director Christopher Nolan, mentor
There is a difference between leadership and demagoguery. Michael X: Hustler, Revolutionary, Outlaw, professor re Malcolm X, Sky Showcase 2021
In the town of Arima, Michael sets himself up as leader of Christina Gardens – a small agricultural commune centred around his claimed political ethos of self-help. ibid. caption
I know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together. Elizabeth II
Leaders of countries or commanders of armies have had their hands on the tiller of history for centuries. Their choices, their actions and their deaths have profound consequences. Many become legends even in their own lifetime. History’s Greatest Myths s1e5: Leaders & Legends, History 2023