Dan Allender puts it perfectly, “If you’re a leader, you’re in the battle of your life.”

Leadership is not easy. You are often making tough decisions, weathering criticism, and taking risks. However, leading well is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have. When you see someone you are leading succeed, when you see their confidence built as they achieve what they never thought possible and as they become better leaders themselves, you can see how you have influenced their lives. Their success is your success! Leadership is something that we all should strive to grow in. But the question is, how do we?

Here are a few lessons from the great leaders that have come before us:

1. Leaders Take Responsibility

“Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.”  –Andrew Jackson

2. Leaders are Learners

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” –John Wooden

3. Leaders Share the Victory

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” –Harry S. Truman

4. Leaders Set the Example

“Example is not the main thing in influencing other. It is the only thing.” –Albert Schweitzer

5. Leaders Aren’t Afraid to Make Mistakes

“The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” –Theodore Roosevelt

6. Leaders Push People Upward

“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” –Booker T. Washington

7. Leaders are Peacemakers

“Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” –Ronald Reagan

8. Leaders Adapt Their Thinking

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” –Albert Einstein

9. Leaders Have a Sense of Humor

“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” –Dwight Eisenhower

10. Leaders Work Hard

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” –Vince Lombardi

11. Leaders are Confident

“Confidence is contagious. So is the lack of confidence.” –Vince Lombardi

12. Leaders Promote Unity

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” –Abraham Lincoln

13. Leaders are Action Oriented

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” –Walt Disney

14. Leaders Do the Right Thing

“The time is always right to do what is right.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

15. Leaders Have Integrity

“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” –George Washington

16. Leaders are Encouragers

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” –Mother Teresa

17. Leaders Persevere

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” –Thomas Jefferson

18. Leaders are Courageous

“Courage is the finest of human qualities because it guarantees all others.” –Winston Churchill

19. Leaders Speak Up

“As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.” –Benjamin Franklin

20. Leaders Serve

“…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” –Jesus, Matthew 20:26