Conflict Management Quotes

The activity of influencing people to cooperate

"Leadership is the activity of influencing people to cooperate toward some goal which they come to find desireable."

- Ordway Tead

Sensitivity requires a willingness to listen

"Sensitivity to others is no trivial skill; rather, it is a truly precious human ability. But it isn't complex: it requires receptiveness to other people and a willingness to listen."

James Kouzes and Barry Posner

Leadership is a concept we often resist

“Leadership” is a concept we often resist.  It seems immodest, even self-aggrandizing, to think of ourselves as leaders.  But if it is true that we are made for community, then leadership is everyone’s vocation, and it can be an evasion to insist that it is not.  When we live in the close-knit ecosystem called community, everyone follows and everyone leads.

Parker Palmer

The prerequisite for leadership

"Whether your role is to lead others or simply to lead yourself, acutely understanding what you are feeling and perceiving is the prerequisite to understanding what others think and feel."

Doc Childre and Bruce Cryer

Find out where he is and start there

“When one is to succeed in leading a person to a certain place, one must above all take care to find out where he is and start there.”
Soren Kierkegaard

An environment of supportive conflict

“The whole business starts with ideas, and we’re convinced that ideas come out of an environment of supportive conflict, which is synonymous with appropriate friction.”
Michael Eisner
CEO and Chairman of Disney

Successful leaders manage conflict

“Successful leaders manage conflict; they don’t shy away from it or suppress it but see it as an engine of creativity and innovation. Some of the most creative ideas come out of people in conflict remaining in conversation with one another rather than flying into their own corners or staking out entrenched positions. The challenge for leaders is to develop structures and processes in which such conflicts can be orchestrated productively.”
Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky

If you are going to be viewed as a leader

“If you are going to be viewed as a leader in your organization and survive and thrive at work into the next century, you must develop your own conflict approach and develop a reputation for
leadership in conflict management and consensus building.”
Lynne Eisaguirre

A key strategic function

“Conflict management is a key strategic function of every organization, so it should be an intentional, conscious one-not left to chance.”
Dan Dana

To succeed in leading

“When one is to succeed in leading a person to a certain place, one must above all take care to find out where he is and start there.”
Soren Kierkegaard