Blog about Leadership

Check out this perspective on leadership from the former four-star General and US President, Dwight David Eisenhower:
 “A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done”

To develop your leadership, develop your sense of humor. See Enhance Your Sense of Humor from Reader’s Digest for some good suggestions.

The following are some more good quote on humor from ThinkExist.com.

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.”
-William James (American Philosopher and Psychologist, leader of the philosophical movement of Pragmatism, 1842-1910)

“A sense of humor… is needed armor. Joy in one’s heart and some laughter on one’s lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.”
-Hugh Sidey

“It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.”
-Max Eastman (American Author, Journalist and Writer, 1883-1969)

“I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it.”
-Frank A. Clark

“Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is”
-Francis Bacon, Sr. (English Lawyer and Philosopher. 1561-1626)

“It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.”
-Muhammad Ali (American Boxer and Activist, b.1942)

“I think being funny is not anyone’s first choice.”
-Woody Allen (American Actor, Author, Screenwriter and Film Director, b.1935)

“A keen sense of humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming, understand the unconventional, tolerated the unpleasant, overcome the unexpected, and outlast the unbearable”
-Billy Graham (American evangelist, b.1918)

“The most valuable sense of humor is the kind that enables a person to see instantly what it isn’t safe to laugh at”
-Unknown

“Keep your sense of humor. As General Joe Stillwell said, “The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind.””
-Donald Rumsfeld (American Secretary of Defense)

“No mind is thoroughly well organized that is deficient in a sense of humor.”
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English lyrical Poet, Critic and Philosopher. 1772-1834)

“I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humor.”
-Edward Albee (American playwright b.1928)

“A sense of humor always withers in the presence of the messianic delusion, like justice and truth in front of patriotic passion”
-Henry Louis Mencken (American humorous Journalist and Critic of American life who influenced US fiction through the 1920s, 1880-1956)

“What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly what may be described as a sense of humor”
-Henry Louis Mencken (American humorous Journalist and Critic of American life who influenced US fiction through the 1920s, 1880-1956)

“My favorite review described me as the cinematic equivalent of junk mail.”
-santiz Steve Buscemi (American Actor, b.1957)

“A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself”
-Jessamyn West (American Writer, 1902-1984)

“Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself, he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor”
-E. B. White (American writer 1899-1985)

“Nothing in man is more serious than his sense of humor; it is the sign that he wants all the truth.”
-Mark van Doren (American Writer and Educator, 1894-1972)

“I think we’re losing our sense of humor instead of being able to relax and laugh at ourselves. I don’t care whether it’s ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, or whose ox is being gored.”
-Betty White

Enjoy this article? Subscribe to my RSS feed.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike), the 5-Star General of World War II, was a great leader.

Leadership Quote from Dwight Eisenhower:
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

I believe “art” is a key word. There are no set formulas or codified procedures to follow for leadership. It’s something that you learn over a lifetime. Ike definitely understood leadership. The man had more experience in leadership then most ever come close to match. He lead soldiers in both world wars as well as during peace time and went on to lead a nation as President. He was a master of the art of leadership.

Biography has a good video on Ike if you are interested: Biography - Dwight Eisenhower (A&E DVD Archives)

Here are some interesting facts about President Eisenhower from Wikipedia:

• Eisenhower was 5′ 10″ in height.
• He was the last U.S. President to be born in the 19th century.
• He suffered from Crohn’s disease.
• Eisenhower smoked four packs of Camel cigarettes every day.
• The loblolly pine tree on the left side of the fairway at the 17th hole at Augusta National Golf Club is known as the Eisenhower Tree. He put his ball in the tree so many times he campaigned to have it removed. It stands to this day. The membership built a cabin for Eisenhower, one of 12 on the course. The cabin, built to Secret Service specifications, still stands on the course and is adorned with an eagle on the front porch.
• Eisenhower has been portrayed by several actors, including Tom Selleck in the 2004 television program Ike: Countdown to D-Day which depicts the 90 days leading up to the D-Day Invasion. On June 6 of that year, Eisenhower’s grandson, David, along with Roosevelt’s grandson, David, and Arabella Churchill, granddaughter of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, appeared on MSNBC during the network’s coverage of the 60th anniversary of D-Day and talked about the roles their grandfathers played during the allied invasion.
• Eisenhower enjoyed cooking as a hobby throughout his life, with particular emphasis on outdoor cooking. During his time as President, he even cooked food on the White House roof, a photo of which exists in the National Archives. Notwithstanding her husband’s cooking, Mamie once famously said, “Ike runs the country; I turn the pork chops.”
• Eisenhower experienced tinnitus.
• Eisenhower was the last president to wear a fedora. After his presidency hats generally stopped being an integral part of men’s clothing.
• Eisenhower approved of the assassination of The Democratic Republic of Congo’s first democratically elected President, Patrice Lumumba.

Enjoy this article? Subscribe to my RSS feed.