Have you ever faced a workday where motivation felt out of reach? Maybe deadlines were piling up, teamwork felt strained, or the energy in the room just wasn't there. That's completely normal! According to Gallup, only 15% of employees worldwide feel engaged at work. Yet, highly motivated teams are 21% more profitable and significantly more productive. Clearly, inspiration isn't just a nice-to-have — it's an essential driver for success.
One of the most impactful ways to reignite motivation is through words, especially those that have stood the test of time. Literature is filled with wisdom that can uplift, guide, and push teams toward greatness. In this article, we've gathered some of the most impactful quotes from books in the Headway library. These words of encouragement will remind teams of their purpose, reinforce perseverance, and foster a culture of motivation and success.
137 powerful quotes to inspire leadership, teamwork, and innovation in the workplace
A motivated team drives high performance, but even the strongest teams need reminders of their strength, resilience, and shared purpose. The right words can shift perspectives, reignite passion, and turn challenges into opportunities.
From leadership wisdom to teamwork mantras, these powerful quotes offer the encouragement your team needs to stay inspired and driven. Each one provides the perfect words to uplift, unite, and push your team toward success.
Motivational quotes about leadership
"Leaders must be willing to make hard decisions and bear the burden of their consequences." — Stanley McChrystal, 'Team of Teams'
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't — you're right." — Henry Ford
"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." — John C. Maxwell
"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team." — Phil Jackson
"Great things in business are never done by one person; they're done by a team of people." — Steve Jobs
"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." — Ralph Nader
"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is a success." — Henry Ford
"Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge." — Simon Sinek
"A leader's job is not to do the work for others; it's to help others figure out how to do it themselves." — Simon Sinek
"A company's culture is the foundation for future innovation. An entrepreneur's job is to build the foundation." — Brian Chesky, 'Profit First'
"If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else." — Booker T. Washington
"Earn your leadership every day." — Michael Jordan
"Leadership is not about being the best. It is about making everyone else better." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader." — John Quincy Adams
"The greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision." — Ken Blanchard
"A boss has the title. A leader has the people." — Simon Sinek
"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." — Jack Welch
"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it." — Andrew Carnegie
"It's not about power. It's about purpose. A leader's job is to inspire that purpose in others." — Michelle Obama, 'Becoming'
"The measure of a leader is not the number of people who serve him, but the number of people he serves." — John C. Maxwell
"If you don't give people a chance to fail, you won't innovate. If you micromanage them, you won't grow them." — Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.
"You don't need a title to be a leader." — Mark Sanborn, The Fred Factor
"A leader's job is to create an environment where great ideas can happen." — Steve Jobs
"True leadership is about creating more leaders, not more followers." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'
"The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example." — John Wooden
"The way to achieve your own success is to be willing to help somebody else get it first." — Iyanla Vanzant
"The function of leadership is to create more leaders, not more followers." — Tom Peters
"Great leaders are willing to sacrifice their personal interests for the good of the team." — Patrick Lencioni
"There's a difference between being liked and being respected. Leaders strive for the latter." — Stanley McChrystal, 'Team of Teams'
"True leadership isn't about authority; it's about influence and inspiration." — Michelle Obama, 'Becoming'
Inspirational teamwork quotes
"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." — Helen Keller
"Teamwork makes the dream work." — John C. Maxwell
"A single bracelet does not jingle." — African Proverb
"A co-founder's success is determined by the strength of their partnership." — Reid Hoffman
"I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things." — Mother Teresa
"There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others." — George Shinn
"Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results." — Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
"When you need a helping hand, the best place to look is at the end of your own arm." — Margaret Carty
"Teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'
"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it." — H.E. Luccock
"Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life." — Amy Poehler
"The way to achieve your own success is to be willing to help somebody else get it first." — Iyanla Vanzant
"Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher." — Oprah Winfrey
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." — Margaret Mead
"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." — Henry Ford
"People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision." — John C. Maxwell
"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up." — Babe Ruth
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." — Harry S. Truman
"Great teams are made when people know their roles, support each other, and share a common goal." — Mike Krzyzewski
"Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work." — Vince Lombardi
Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved." — Mattie Stepanek
"Collaboration allows us to know more than we are capable of knowing alone." — Paul Solarz
"Trust is knowing that when a team member pushes you, they are doing it because they care." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'
"The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members better." — Tony Dungy
"A boat doesn't go forward if each one is rowing their own way." — Swahili Proverb
"A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other." — Simon Sinek
"It takes two flints to make a fire." — Louisa May Alcott
"The best teamwork comes from people who are working independently toward one goal in unison." — James Cash Penney
"The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better." — Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean." — Ryunosuke Satoro
"The best way to ensure teamwork is to hold yourself accountable to the same standards you ask of others." — Patrick Lencioni, 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'
"Teamwork gives you the best chance of turning vision into reality." — John C. Maxwell, 'The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth'
"The essence of a great team is mutual respect and trust." — Stanley McChrystal, 'Team of Teams'
"No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you're playing a solo game, you'll always lose to a team." — Reid Hoffman, The Startup of You
"The bigger the dream, the more important the team." — Robin Sharma
"Collaboration is the key to unlocking potential in any group effort." — Ed Catmull, 'Creativity, Inc.'
"None of us is as smart as all of us." — Ken Blanchard
"A good team becomes great when they trust each other completely." — Patrick Lencioni
"Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there." — Virginia Burden
"A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle." — Japanese Proverb
Team building quotes about perseverance
"Winners never quit and quitters never win." — Vince Lombardi
"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule but to schedule your priorities." — Stephen Covey
"To achieve uncommon results, you must be willing to take uncommon actions." — Unknown
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." — Wayne Gretzky
"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today." — Franklin D. Roosevelt
"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life." — Charles Darwin
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." — Theodore Roosevelt
"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." — Tim Notke
"If you fail, learn. If you succeed, repeat." — Kobe Bryant, 'The Mamba Mentality'
"Fall seven times, stand up eight." — Japanese Proverb
"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary." — Vidal Sassoon
"Discipline equals freedom." — Jocko Willink, 'Extreme Ownership'
"When you get knocked down, you have to get back up." — Admiral William H. McRaven, 'Make Your Bed'
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." — Winston Churchill
"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." — C.S. Lewis
"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." — Confucius
"If you want to be the best, you have to do things other people aren't willing to do." — Michael Phelps
"Tough times never last, but tough people do." — Robert H. Schuller
"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it." — Margaret Thatcher
"It always seems impossible until it's done." — Nelson Mandela
"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't." — Jack Dempsey
"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." — George S. Patton
"The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow." — Arnold Schwarzenegger
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." — Henry Ford
"Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records." — William Arthur Ward
"Don't let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning." — Robert Kiyosaki
"Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength." — Theodore Roosevelt
"Perseverance, secret of all triumphs." — Victor Hugo
"If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?" — T.S. Eliot
"The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible." — Charles Kingsleigh, Alice in Wonderland
"You cannot swim for new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." — William Faulkner
"You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." — Marcus Aurelius
"Great teams don't win championships—great cultures do." — Jon Gordon
Great teamwork quotes about innovation
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." — Albert Einstein
"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." — Steve Jobs
"Creativity, Inc. is a company, but it's also a mindset that encourages fresh thinking." — Ed Catmull, 'Creativity, Inc.'
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." — Abraham Lincoln
"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." — Robert Orben
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." — Mark Twain
"What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean." — Isaac Newton
"Successful people are simply those with successful habits." — Brian Tracy
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." — Peter Drucker
"Fear is the enemy of progress." — Chris Voss, 'Never Split the Difference'
"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions." — Albert Einstein
"An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all." — Oscar Wilde
"Growth and comfort do not coexist." — Ginni Rometty
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." — Milton Berle
"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." — Elon Musk
"Ideas are easy. Execution is everything." — John Doerr
"Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things." — Theodore Levitt
"The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do." — Rob Siltanen
"If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it." — Elon Musk
"Doubt is the enemy of innovation." — Ed Catmull, 'Creativity, Inc.'
"An innovator sees what everyone sees but thinks what no one has thought." — Albert Einstein
"Risk-taking, trust, and serendipity are key ingredients of innovation." — Nicholas Negroponte
"Do not wait: the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand." — Napoleon Hill
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." — Albert Einstein
"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do." — Mark Twain
"The keys to brand success are self-definition, transparency, authenticity, and accountability." — Simon Mainwaring
"Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better." — Pat Riley
"The difference between a successful person and others is not lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will." — Norman Shidle
"The real act of discovery is not finding new lands, but seeing with new eyes." — Marcel Proust
"An innovation is the implementation of a new idea, not just the idea itself." — Peter Drucker
"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." — Sun Tzu
"The next big thing will start out looking like a toy." — Chris Dixon
"Stay hungry, stay foolish." — Steve Jobs
"Innovation requires an experimental mindset." — Chris Voss, 'Never Split the Difference
Unlock more teamwork inspiration with Headway
Feeling inspired? The right words can spark motivation, but consistent growth comes from continuous learning. Headway makes it easy to keep your team inspired and driven with bite-sized book summaries on leadership, teamwork, productivity, and innovation — all designed to fit into a busy schedule.
Explore key takeaways from bestselling books like 'The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team,' 'Creativity, Inc.,' and 'Never Split the Difference.' Whether you're looking for fresh insights on building stronger teams, leading with confidence, or pushing through challenges, Headway has the knowledge you need — all in just 15 minutes per summary.
Start exploring today and empower your team with the best ideas from top authors. Check out Headway today!
