Frances Hesselbein

“We are increasingly becoming a pluralistic nation.”

“We cannot ensure equal access or build upon our diverse strengths by sitting at our desks.”

“It is not business, it is not government - it is the social sector that may yet save the society.”

“Leadership is not a basket of tricks or strategies or skills that you pull out. Leadership begins with the quality of the person.”

“Social-sector organizations have to be better managed than for-profit organizations... because they have no margin of error.”

“Leadership flows from inner character and integrity of ambition, which inspires others to lend themselves to your organization's mission.”

“Age is irrelevant.”

“Simple questions can be profound, and answering them requires us to make stark and honest - and sometimes painful - self-assessments.”

“I believe that tears should be very private, and no matter what issue or what situation, we should have a very dignified demeanor.”

“Women are working for part or all of their adult lives now. The possibilities are limitless, but you need to prepare.”

“At one time, there was a stereotype that your Girl Scout leader was the mother of a Brownie, but increasingly, we are having young businesswomen and professional women who are not mothers but care about children.”

“I didn't have a career plan. But what I did was, whenever there was a door open and a new opportunity, I always looked into it and took a chance and walked through the door.”

“It is what we do with our lives that counts.”

“When it comes to communicating change at any time, the mission must be clear, and it must inspire.”

“Leadership is a matter of how to be - not how to do it.”

“At a young age, I learned from my grandmother that I should respect all people. Her lessons were defining moments in my life and determined the type of leader that I would become.”

“In the future, it will not be the one big message, the one big voice, but millions of us, in our own way, healing, unifying, and experiencing that one defining moment when we recognize that sustaining the democracy is the common bottom line - whoever we are, whatever we do, wherever we are, the call is to sustain the democracy.”

“Planning defines the particular place you want to be and how you intend to get there. It's a responsibility rather than a technique.”

“With a growing number of one-parent families in the country, the Girl Scout troop can be an indispensable and powerful positive factor.”

“I adored my grandparents and spent every weekend with Mama and Papa Wicks. They had seven children, so they needed a big house - and it seemed only logical to them to build into their house a pipe organ in a music room with a sixteen-foot ceiling.”