Quotes by "Frances Hesselbein"

Not long after I was married, World War II began. My husband John volunteered for the Navy and was sent to Pensacola for training as a Naval Combat Air Crew photographer. It seemed a strange assignment for a young newspaper editor and writer, already exempt, but off he went, saying goodbye to our 18-month-old Johnny and me.

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.

I never had any question about the direction we were going in at the Girl Scouts. We shared our mission and research with all levels of leaders from the very beginning - a concept I created, using cups and saucers, called 'circular management.' Everyone was on a team; there were no superiors or subordinates. There was respect for all people.

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.

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

Donors do not reward good intentions.

In 1976, I was invited to interview for the CEO position of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.

Girl Scouts helps girls make decisions that are right for them and offer support.

Management is the set of skills that can help get things done. Unfortunately, its practice is too often a bag of manipulative tricks to advance someone's own interests, which creates cynicism.

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

Some corporations are extremely well managed; some nonprofit organizations are. It has nothing to do with the sector. It has to do with quality of management.

We are increasingly becoming a pluralistic nation.

The real leader redefines or defines the mission in a very powerful way so that people understand it; it permeates the organization.

When you see a roadblock or challenge as an opportunity, it is amazing how you are already halfway there.

In my life, I don't have roadblocks and obstacles. I might have something you would call a 'challenge.' I throw that out the window, and I call that a wonderful opportunity.

It takes courage for a leader to identify and confront self-imposed barriers, to put in place the personal strategies required to unleash the energy, innovation, and commitment to self-development.

Practice self-awareness, self-evaluation, and self-improvement. If we are aware that our manners - language, behavior, and actions - are measured against our values and principles, we are able to more easily embody the philosophy, leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.

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

I did not want to take a troop. I was the mother of a little boy. I knew nothing about little girls.

When people are speaking, they require our undivided attention. We focus on them; we listen very carefully. We listen to the spoken words and the unspoken messages. This means looking directly at the person, eyes connected; we forget we have a watch, just focusing for that moment on that person.