140 Boss Quotes
Following is our list of boss quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about boss and leader.
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Famous Boss Quotes
The boss depends on authority; the leader on goodwill. — Harry Gordon Selfridge
There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. — Sam Walton
The first thing the secretary types is the boss. — Unknown
The first thing the secretary types is the boss. — Donald Trump
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. — Bill Gates
The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says 'I'; The leader says 'We'. — Harry Gordon Selfridge
Remember the difference between a boss and a leader. A boss says, Go! A leader says, Let's go! — George E. M. Kelly
The speed of the boss is the speed of the team. — Lee Iacocca
Never underestimate the power of a bossy woman. — Karen Hawkins
The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says, 'Go!' - a leader says, 'Let's go!' — E. M. Kelly
A good boss makes his men realize they have more ability than they think they have so that they consistently do better work than they thought they could. — Charles Erwin Wilson
People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives. — Theodore Roosevelt
Basically, a manager is a father figure to 20 or 25 blokes. It's about trying to get the best out of them and creating team spirit. — Alan Shearer
People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives. — Theodore Roosevelt
There is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust. — Klaus Balkenhol
Short Boss Quotes
- A leader leads by example not by force. — Sun Tzu
- The real bosses, in the capitalist system of market economy, are the consumers. — Ludwig von Mises
- It is difficult to steal when the boss is a thief. — Icelandic Proverbs
- I wanted to be my own boss and God knows I wanted to travel. — Cliff Lerner
- Why in the world do the insurance companies get to be the boss of birth? That's what I want to know. — Ina May Gaskin
- Treat your brain as a biological function and understand he is not the boss – you are the boss. — Mo Gawdat
- I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks. — William Shakespeare
- In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way. — Tina Fey
- The world is divided into people who do things and people who get the credit. — Dwight Morrow
- Frog chooses boss. — Thai Proverbs
Boss Image Quotes
Bad Boss Quotes
It's a tough world out there. You're going to prepare yourself for politics, bad bosses, hating employees - and usually when you're the absolute best, you get hated on the most. — Kanye West
Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse. Murphy's First Corollary If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire. — George Edward Woodberry
If we're honest, most of us would accept that a bad boss is a little bit like a bad father or a bad husband ... you find that he tends to do more good than harm. He might be a bad boss but at least he's employing someone while he is in fact a boss. — Tony Abbott
Bosses and leaders everywhere should cherish the people who bring them bad news, disappointing data or hard problems. — Margaret Heffernan
Debate is almost non-existent and no one is apparently accountable to anybody apart from their political party bosses. It is bad news for democracy in this country. — Helen Suzman
Everybody makes bad decisions. I am sure I have made my share of them over 40 years of service. Or I have made good decisions and have been overruled. The real challenge, when you are overruled, is to remember who the boss is and don't take it personally. — Colin Powell
We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve. — John F. Kennedy
I haven't really had too many bosses. Any bad boss I had probably was because I was a bad employee. — Jason Sudeikis
Subordinates look for their bosses to be positive, in good humor, and cheerful. They aren't supposed to be emotional or have bad days. but leaders are guman, too, and when they are in a lousy mood and snap at a subordinate, it can have a devastating effect. — Donald T. Phillips
One of the first things that you learn as a stand-up is, you're the boss. It's your stage, and don't screw with me because I'll make you look bad, which I had to do, because you wind up with drunks and loud people. — Bob Newhart
Boss And Leader Quotes
The boss drives people; The leader coaches them. — Harry Gordon Selfridge
The leader works in the open and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives. — Theodore Roosevelt
A boss who micromanages is like a coach who wants to get in the game. Leaders guide and support and then sit back to cheer from the sidelines. — Simon Sinek
According to [the Bible], a leader is first and foremost a servant. His concern is not for himself; his concern is not to give orders, to boss other people around, to have his own way. His concern is to meet the needs of others. — Wayne Mack
To be a good boss, you must be transparent. Theres a correlation between worker happiness and workplace transparency. Leaders and managers who offer transparency will earn the respect and devotion of their team. — David Niu
The boss says 'Go'; the leader says 'Let's go!' — Harry Gordon Selfridge
The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. — John C. Maxwell
Even though worker capacity and motivation are destroyed when leaders choose power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well. — Margaret J. Wheatley
We encourage others to find a local Earth raper and make them pay for the damages they are inflicting on our communities... Furriers, meat packers, bosses, developers, rich industry leaders are all Earth rapers . We must inflict economic sabotage on all Earth rapers. — Craig Rosebraugh
The boss says 'I'; the leader, 'we'. — Harry Gordon Selfridge
Boss Day Quotes
Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements. — Ron Livingston
I've met a few people in my time who were enthusiastic about hard work. And it was just my luck that all of them happened to be men I was working for at the time. — Bill Gold
A friend of mine who used to be my boss at ESPN once was asked why sports had exploded the way it had. He said, "Because you can't go to Blockbuster and rent tonight's game." Every night is different in sports. Every day there are different heroes and villains and conversations after the game. — Mike Lupica
The difference between a job and a career is the difference between forty and sixty hours a week. — Robert Frost
Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. — Howard Aiken
People will work eight hours a day for pay, 10 hours a day for a good boss, and 24 hours a day for a good cause! — John C. Maxwell
When a leader is in the Democratic Party he's a boss. When he's in the Republican Party he's nothing but a leader. — Harry S. Truman
Most people like hard work, particularly when they're paying for it. — Elbert Hubbard
By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day. — Robert Frost
There is only one boss. The customer. — Sam Walton
Like A Boss Quotes
I am an animator. I feel like I'm the manager of a animation cinema factory. I am not an executive. I'm rather like a foreman, like the boss of a team of craftsmen. That is the spirit of how I work. — Hayao Miyazaki
To help others develop, start with yourself! When the boss acts like a little god and tells everyone else they need to improve, that behavior can be copied at every level of management. Every level then points out how the level below it needs to change. The end result: No one gets much better. — Marshall Goldsmith
What is it that you like doing? If you don't like it, get out of it, because you'll be lousy at it. You don't have to stay with a job for the rest of your life, because if you don't like it you'll never be successful in it. — Lee Iacocca
When I think about what sort of person I would most like to have on a retainer, I think it would be a boss. A boss who could tell me what to do, because that makes everything easy when you're working. — Andy Warhol
As for ISIS, we know where they come from. We know who has used them in the past. We know their sectarianism leads to killings. Here the Turkish state, like its NATO bosses, has helped to create a monster that it now claims to oppose. — Tariq Ali
I feel like, in a lot of shows where the woman is in charge, the woman is this ball buster and the guy is sort of weak and spineless. And that's never been my experience in a relationship. I think it's much more interesting that the guy is the boss. And there are stakes. — Whitney Cummings
I used to always work in, like, warehouses, because if my boss gave me a rough time, I could just get on a forklift and just, like, drive away from him. — Bill Burr
I went to my boss, and I said, 'Look, I'd like to design these ties because I think they could be new.' He said, 'The world isn't ready for Ralph Lauren.' I never forgot that because... I thought that was a compliment. — Ralph Lauren
Rappers on their sophomores...actin' like they boss lords. Fame's such a funny thing for sure when niggas start believing all those encores. — Pusha T
The most popular man under a democracy is not the most democratic man, but the most despotic man. The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like him to boss them. Their natural gait is the goose step. — H. L. Mencken
Real Boss Quotes
Bosses push, Leaders pull. Real leadership is servant leadership. — Dave Ramsey
No matter what the job description says, your real job is to make the boss look good. — Lois Wyse
Your real boss is the one who walks around under your hat. — Napoleon Hill
Your own mental attitude is your real boss. — Napoleon Hill
The audience makes the decision of what kind of actor they want to watch. I always have said in the last 20 years, the real boss is the audience. — Jet Li
Act like a lady think like a man — Steve Harvey
Go look in the mirror and have a talk with your real boss. — Bryant H. McGill
If a man approaches another man in a disrespectful way, especially if they're at a high level in the streets, they're not going to listen to each other. You could be the boss of all bosses, but what gets to you - for real, under your skin, if you got a lady - is going to be your lady! — Felicia Pearson
Only life experience has the real answer to why you must become your own boss. — George Mokaila
The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements, and neither daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly on what should be said on the vital issues of the day. — Theodore Roosevelt
Good Boss Quotes
Other people will push you towards the things you’re good at, too. Because your smart bosses, co-workers and investors will realize you’re world-class in this one thing. — Naval Ravikant
One of my direct subordinates, one of my guys that worked for me, he would call me up or pull me aside with some major problem, some issue that was going on. And he'd say, 'Boss, we've got this, and that, and the other thing.' And I'd look at him and I'd say, 'Good.' — Jocko Willink
The best gifts to give: To your friend, loyalty; To your enemy, forgiveness; To your boss, service; To a child, a good example; To your parents, gratitude and devotion; To your mate, love and faithfulness; To all men and women, charity. — Oren Arnold
I have learned that trying to guess what the boss or the client wants is the most debilitating of all influences in the creation of good advertising. — Leo Burnett
I was more of kind (who was better at) building businesses and selling them. That was a big thing for me. I was very good at that. I wasn't good as a boss. I was either your best friend or your worst enemy. I didn't balance the two very well. (So) I sold them. — Drew Waters
A good manager doesn't try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of his people. If you're the boss and your people fight you openly when they think that you are wrong -- that's healthy. — Robert Townsend
It's good to be a little frightened. It's good to respect your opponent. It keeps you sharp. In the fight game, the head rules the heart. But in the end the heart is the boss. — Bryce Courtenay
Women in the workplace - we still have big strides to make. Girlfriend of mine just got a new job. First question the new boss asked her was if she could make a good cup of coffee... Yeah, she stormed right out of that Starbucks. — Carol Leifer
Both Neil and I had done solo projects where we were the boss and I just thought that if he was willing to get into it, it would really be a good experience for him. — Alex Lifeson
I was a hot-dog stand lady, I was an orphan housemother, I was a waitress 3 or 4 times. All of those jobs did not have good bosses. They basically told you what to do, when to do and when to hop. And I just didn't like that very much. — Barbara Corcoran
Great Boss Quotes
I believe that Donald Trump is someone who is not fully understood for how compassionate and what a great boss he is to women. — Kellyanne Conway
There are two kinds of airplanes - those you fly and those that fly you . . . You must have a distinct understanding at the very start as to who is the boss. — Ernest K. Gann
If you want to be great, walk the rope without a boss and without a net. — Naval Ravikant
The moon is looking down into the canyon, and how marvelously the great rocks kindle to her light! Every dome, and brow, and swelling boss touched by her white rays, glows as if lighted with snow. — John Muir
Why do I regret Chelsea? I'm the boss of the richest club in the world. I have not had much time to adjust myself, but I've found a great restaurant! That is the first thing I did when I arrived! — Carlo Ancelotti
Too many companies believe people are interchangeable. Truly gifted people never are. They have unique talents. Such people cannot be forced into roles they are not suited for, nor should they be. Effective leaders allow great people to do the work they were born to do. — Warren G. Bennis
Chess is my profession. I am my own boss; I am free. I like literature and music, classical especially. I am in fact quite normal; I have a Bohemian profession without being myself a Bohemian. I am neither a conformist nor a great revolutionary. — Bent Larsen
Before negotiating a raise, start collecting a file of evidence showing how you've impacted the bottom line. ... Don't believe there's no money in the budget. Don't assume your boss knows how great you've been doing. Don't threaten to leave -- you may be given the opportunity. — Pat Heim
I was very lucky with 'Soap' and 'Who's the Boss,' which was great fun, and then went on 'Coach' and 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' I've been truly blessed, and the work has all been fun and a joy. — Katherine Helmond
We can't rely on others to be our teachers anymorethe future belongs to individuals who decide to become great bosses (and teachers). — Seth
People Writing About Boss
| Name | Quotes | Likes |
|---|---|---|
 Harry Gordon Selfridge |
13 | 905 |
 Theodore Roosevelt |
752 | 11364 |
 Sam Walton |
101 | 2144 |
 Unknown |
1801 | 14881 |
 Donald Trump |
3420 | 6584 |
 Bill Gates |
1100 | 7827 |
More Boss Quotes
If you really want peace of mind and inner calm, you will get it. Regardless of how unjustly you have been treated, or how unfair the boss has been, or what a mean scoundrel someone has proved to be, all this makes no difference to you when you awaken to your mental and spiritual powers. — Joseph Murphy
The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy. — Woodrow Wilson
The boss drives people; the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm. The boss says I; The leader says WE. The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown. The boss says, GO; the leader says Lets GO! — Harry Gordon Selfridge
I saw a sign at a gas station. It said 'help wanted'. There was another sign below it that said 'self service'. So I hired myself. Then I made myself the boss. I gave myself a raise. I paid myself. Then I quit. — Steven Wright
It isn't the changes that do you in, it's the transitions. Change is not the same as transition. Change is situational: the new site, the new boss, the new team roles, the new policy. Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. Change is external, transition is internal — William Bridges
Freedom of speech is a two way street, man. You have the right to say whatever you want and the Boss has a right to tell the police to arrest you. — Lenny Bruce
All highly competent people continually search for ways to keep learning, growing, and improving. They do that by asking WHY. After all, the person who knows HOW will always have a job, but the person who knows WHY will always be the boss. — Benjamin Franklin
A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude. — Aldous Huxley
In every position that I've been in, there have been naysayers who don't believe I'm qualified or who don't believe I can do the work. And I feel a special responsibility to prove them wrong. — Sonia Sotomayor
In the past a leader was a boss. Today's leaders must be partners with their people... they no longer can lead solely based on positional power. — Ken Blanchard
Most teams aren't teams at all but merely collections of individual relationships with the boss. Each individual vying with the others for power, prestige and position. — Douglas Murray Mcgregor
Win with your heart, not your head - win on emotion, not in logic; have a passion about what you do; nobody wants a boss, everybody wants a coach. — Arthur L. Williams, Jr.
Most teams aren't teams at all but merely collections of individual relationships with the boss. Each individual vying with the others for power, prestige and position. — Douglas McGregor
You just need to take charge and act like the boss. Correct Descartes’ statement all the way: I am, therefore my brain thinks. — Mo Gawdat
I build myself up with confidence with aggression, and confidence to control the game. If you're the bowler and you've got the ball in your hand you're controlling the game, so you've got to make sure the batsmen knows who's boss. — Brett Lee
You got a million drug laws now because the bosses figured there was more money in putting people in jail than taxing something anyone can grow on a window sill. — Lenny Bruce
Employers should not be able to impose their religious beliefs on female employees, ignoring their individual health decisions and denying their right to reproductive care. Bosses belong in the boardroom, not in the bedroom. — Dina Titus
If you try and work out at 4:30 in the afternoon, how many people are going to chip away at that time? Your boss, your job, your work, your family, your other obligations that you might have. At 4:30 in the morning, all those people are asleep, so you can do whatever you want. — Jocko Willink
I had never been in charge of anything. I'd always worked for someone. I worked for a furniture warehouse. I did masonry. I always had a boss yelling at me. So I'd never been in charge of an organization. — Dave Grohl
The courage we need is not the fortitude to be obedient in the service of an unjust war, to help conceal lies, to do our job for a boss who has usurped power and is acting as an outlaw government. It is the courage at last to face honestly the truth and reality of what we are doing in the world and act responsibly to change it. — Daniel Ellsberg
Any industry in which people complain about their *sshole boss is likely part of the bezzle, because bosses can only really afford to be *ssholes in the economic fake reality of the bezzle. In a productive firm offering valuable service to society, success depends on pleasing customers. Workers are rewarded for how well they do that essential task, and bosses who mistreat their workers will either lose the workers to competitors or destroy their business quickly. In an unproductive firm that does not serve society and relies on bureaucratic largesse for its survival. — Saifedean Ammous
In Conclusion
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