I’m in Atlanta this week, preparing for the Chick-fil-A Leadercast on Friday. This event will be broadcast to venues all over the world, and you still have time to find a location near you. Just visit the website for more information.

One of the things I’ll be talking about on Friday is the different levels of leadership. And one key to becoming a better leader can be found in connecting with your followers.

So for today’s post, I’m sharing from my files some of my favorite quotes…

On Connecting

Start where people are before you try to take them to where you want them to go. –Jim Rohn

There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. –James Nathan Miller

Shooting above people’s heads doesn’t mean you have superior ammunition – it means you are a lousy shot. –Oscar Handlin

The two words information and communication are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through. –Sydney J. Harris

When I’m getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say – and two-thirds thinking about him and what he is going to say. –Abraham Lincoln

Nothing can happen through you until it happens to you, and you can only communicate what you’re in the process of rediscovering. –Lloyd John Ogilvie

Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe. –Winston Churchill

Some leaders feel that by keeping people in the dark, they maintain a measure of control. But that is a leader’s folly and an organization’s failure. Secrecy spawns isolation, not success. Knowledge is power, yes, but what leaders need is collective power, and that requires collective knowledge. I found that the more people knew what the goals were, the better buy-in I got – and the better results we achieved together. –Mike Abrashoff

The true spirit of conversation consists in building on another [person’s] observation, not overturning it. –Edward Bulwer-Lytton

It’s not what you tell your players that counts. It’s what they hear. –Red Auerbach

I hope you found these quotes encouraging and helpful. If you want to learn even more on this subject, take a look at my book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect.