In the ever changing VUCA world with unpredictable business dynamics, organizations must ensure their employees are well-equipped to handle the inevitable challenges and thrive nonetheless.
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Virtual team building has slowly made itself the main topic of discussion across organisations, thanks to remote and blended working cultures in the last two years. However, remote working brings with it, a host of new challenges. Something as simple as the morning greetings, water cooler reprieve, and a multitude of similar things are now missing from our daily work day. This, in turn, can cause your team members to drift apart and affect their inter-personal relationships.
Continue reading “How to Build Trust in a Remote Team with Virtual Team Building Activities?”
A significant issue that most policy-makers and organisations point struggle with is the wide gap between skilled talent and market demands. The present market conditions demands students to acquire all necessary skills to play an active role as not just an innovator, leader, but also, that of a budding entrepreneur, all within the same organisation..
Have you ever stopped to wonder about your ability as a leader to influence people? How it can empower them, accelerate results, and ultimately ensure an easier working environment?
Influencing is about understanding yourself and the effect or impact you have on others. Influence has long been the key to successful leadership. Leaders need impactful influence to sell ideas, to motivate teams, and to support and implement decisions. Identifying personal triggers is important to truly master the art of influencing others effectively. This can help in adapting your leadership style to make an impactful impression. Effective influence can enable you to get the desired outcome, with grace and ease.
But how does a leader go about influencing others without having to use authority?
[ ALSO READ: Book Learning: Influence Without Authority by Allan R. Cohen ]
Great leaders don’t just manage tasks; they inspire people, guide decisions, and shape the culture of their teams. The ability to influence without authority is a key trait of transformational leadership. Leaders who can effectively communicate their vision, build trust, and develop emotional intelligence can steer conversations and situations toward the desired outcome.
According to 6 Steps to Become Your Team’s Motivational Officer, true leadership isn’t about control—it’s about the ability to guide and motivate people toward a shared goal. This is especially important in modern workplaces where collaboration and soft skills for leadership play a vital role.
Trust is the foundation of effective leadership. People are more likely to be influenced by leaders they trust. Transparency, authenticity, and integrity build credibility over time.
Tip: Be consistent with your actions, follow through on commitments, and communicate openly.
Leaders who develop emotional intelligence can recognize, understand, and manage their emotions while also influencing others positively.
Tip: Listen actively, show empathy, and be adaptable in conversations.
Communication is at the heart of leadership influence. The way a leader articulates ideas and conveys messages can determine how well their influence is received.
Tip: Learn to speak with clarity and align your messaging with your audience’s values.
The most influential leaders also serve as coaches and mentors, guiding their teams toward success.
Tip: Provide constructive feedback, encourage personal growth, and foster leadership development in your team.
Many people assume that leadership influence comes from holding a position of power. However, influence is about persuasion and guidance, whereas authority is about commanding obedience.
For example, consider a team leader who motivates employees by inspiring them to achieve personal effectiveness rather than simply enforcing rules. Research from 4 Motivation Lessons from Whale Training suggests that positive reinforcement and encouragement work better than strict orders.
Here are some simple strategies to boost your influence as a leader:
Use compelling stories to inspire and connect with your team.
Actions speak louder than words—demonstrate the behaviors you want to see in your team.
Build relationships across different teams to strengthen your leadership and management effectiveness.
Foster an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns.
Below is a collection of 100 powerful quotes that highlight the role of influence in leadership and how it shapes our actions:
1. It is more important to influence people than to impress them.
– Adrian Rogers
2. I hold that a strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations.
– Beatrix Potter
3. We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.
– Stephen King
4. One of the best ways to influence people is to make them feel important. Most people enjoy those rare moments when others make them feel important. It is one of the deepest human desires.
– Roy T. Bennett
5. Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
– Albert Schweitzer
6. Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.
– Napoleon Hill
7. If you are given a chance to be a role model, I think you should always take it because you can influence a person’s life in a positive light, and that’s what I want to do. That’s what it’s all about.
– Tiger Woods
8. Your minds influence the key activity of the brain, which then influences everything; perception, cognition, thoughts and feelings, personal relationships; they’re all a projection of you.
– Deepak Chopra
9. The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority.
– Ken Blanchard
11. The people who influence you are the people who believe in you.
– Henry Drummond
12. People exercise an unconscious selection in being influenced.
– T. S. Eliot
13. If you were born with the ability to change someone’s perspective or emotions, never waste that gift. It is one of the most powerful gifts God can give – the ability to influence.
– Shannon L. Alder
14. The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret.
– Salvador Dali
15. Nobody should be whipped. Remember that, once and for all. Neither man nor animal can be influenced by anything but suggestion.
– Mikhail Bulgakov
16. Children are more influenced by sermons you act than by sermons you preach.
– David McKay
17. A parent gives life, but as parent, gives no more. A murderer takes life, but his deed stops there. A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
– Henry Adams
18. Evil influence is like a nicotine patch; you cannot help but absorb what sticks to you.
– E.A. Bucchianeri
19. Smiling, unknowingly influences how other people will respond to you.
– Liam Jackson
21. The past influences everything and dictates nothing.
– Adam Phillips
22. A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives.
– Jackie Robinson
23. The ability to influence people without irritating them is the most profitable skill you can learn.
– Napoleon Hill, Selling You!
24. Don’t be a pepper on the eyes of people; Rather be the salt on their tongue and make a difference that influences their sense of belonging to the earth.
– Israelmore Ayivor
25. You don’t need to be a saint to benefit from Mother Teresa’s example. Her influence has led us to a higher standard of leadership, and we hope it will raise your own bar too.
– Ruma Bose
26. The real beginning of influence comes as others sense you are being influenced by them ― when they feel understood by you ― that you have listened deeply and sincerely, and that you are open.
– Stephen R. Covey
27. You don’t have to be a person of influence to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me.
– Scott Adams
28. No matter how much you love the person, you cannot change them. You may influence them; but at the end of the day, they must decide for themselves.
– Robert E. Baines Jr.
29. Some of the most important decisions I have made might well have never been made or might have been very different if it hadn’t been for the influence of the people in my life. We all need mentors.
– Tony Clark
31. A young child is a leader to an elderly person once his purpose has a faithful, sincere and trustworthy influence on people. Leadership is not restricted to position and age; it is self―made and influential. Everyone has this self―leadership quality.
– Israelmore Ayivor
32. Whether you flounder or flourish is always in your hands ― you are the single biggest influence in your life. Your journey begins with a choice to get up, step out, and live fully.
– Oprah Winfrey
33. Whether we like it or not, the reality is that our decisions are influenced by a whole host of factors, many of which lay beyond our conscious awareness and control.
– Nathalie Nahai
34. Nothing has a greater influence over your life than your thoughts rather they are negative or positive.
– Tasha Hoggatt
35. The only way in which one human being can properly attempt to influence another is by encouraging him to think for himself, instead of endeavoring to instill ready―made opinions into his head.
– Leslie Stephen
36. Each of us should be aware of the energy we are putting out into the world. Are we a positive influence or a negative one
– Laurence Overmire
37. As an educator, I’ve seen the positive influence that fathers have on their children.
– Nicoline Ambe
38. Your expectation influences your disposition.
– Ekere Marshal
39. A woman of wisdom has so much influence. The wise learn from her, and they do not ignore her wisdom at all.
– Gift Gugu Mona
41. Real control is influencing someone to the point that he believes his choices are his own.
– G.R. Morris
42. Those sweet souls who speak kind words when they could rightly criticize are the most influential beings in all the world.
– Richelle E. Goodrich
43. As a person on planet Earth you are capable of influencing another with your journey.
– Rachel D. Greenwell
44. Influence does not require position.
– Richie Norton
45. Influencers are not leaders, but leaders are influencers.
– Richie Norton
46. The humblest individual exerts some influence, either for good or evil, upon others.
– Henry Ward Beecher
47. A great verse can have a great influence on the soul of a language.
– Gaston Bachelard
48. He who influences the thought of his times, influences all the times that follow. He has made his impress on eternity.
– Hypatia
49. I prefer to cut the negative people out of my life. The people you spend time with influence your attitude and thoughts more than you think.
– Fuad Alakbarov
51. Leaders are influential because they live and inspire other people’s future.
– Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel
52. If you try to influence everyone, you won’t influence anyone.
– Josh Steimle
53. We are more likely to influence people if we are willing to minster with kindness and patience to their needs.
– Richelle E. Goodrich
54. Without love, influence is merely transactional and lasts only as long as there is a clear, mutual benefit.
– Josh Steimle
55. The way you think, the way you behave, the way you eat, can influence your life by 30 to 50 years.
– Deepak Chopra
56. Your influence on others is your net worth, treat it as such.
– Peprah Boasiako
57. Influence is no respecter of education or experience; it goes only with the one who will set aside his status ― be it high and mighty or low and lowly ― and put himself in the place of another.
– Dale Carnegie
58. A life without influence is a life without meaning.
– Josh Steimle
59. It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people’s lives.
– Clint Eastwood
61. Never underestimate the Power of Influence!
– Benjamin Suulola
62. A person who causes you to react controls you. A person who compels you to think and consider doing differently influences you.
– Jeffrey Duarte
63. The most critical success factor for leaders is their ability to influence the right people, at the right time, about the right thing.
– Daren Martin
64. Don’t trade in your integrity for influence.
– Richie Norton
65. Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future.
Steve Jobs
66. Family and impact come first, income and influence come second as a supporting role.
– Richie Norton
67. Knowledge is not power. You may know many things, but without influence you can’t do anything.
– Josh Steimle
68. Love, and specifically good will, is key to influence. Without it, you can do everything else right and still have no influence. With love, you can do everything else wrong and still make an impact.
– Josh Steimle
69. Your thoughts greatly influence how you feel and behave. In fact, your inner monologue has a tendency to become a self―fulfilling prophecy.
– Amy Morin
71. Restrain from someone because they are a bad influence and not because they are different from you.
– Don Santo
72. Leaders don’t care about followers; leaders care about something bigger than that. Leaders care about making an impact and difference in their community, Influencers almost never go on to be leaders, leaders always result in being influential.
– Mmanti Umoh
73. Faith doesn’t deny a problem’s existence. It denies a problem a place of influence.
– Bill Johnson
74. Influencing the world for good starts with service, self―care and specificity in time contribution to family.
– Richie Norton
75. The influence of teachers extends beyond the classroom, well into the future. It is they who shape and enrich the minds of the young, who touch their hearts and souls. It is they who shape a nation’s future.
– F. Sionil Jose
76. All you do in life is influenced greatly by what’s in your heart.
– Jeffrey G. Duarte
77. All the decisions that an African man makes will be weighed in terms of influence not only on himself but also on his wife and his entire family.
– Sunday Adelaja
78. The focus should be on becoming a strong and
influential personality – cultivate compelling communication skills, focus on building trust and learn how to expand and leverage your professional network.
– Abhishek Ratna
79. Influence is everything. One wrong influence can single handedly destroy every bit of your innocence and innocence is the root of all wisdom.
– John Maiorana
81. If you have influence on other people; Don’t be influenced by their hate, money, jealousy, anger and popularity.
– De philosopher DJ Kyos
82. Influence creates affluence. Affluence does not create influence. Affluence makes you more of who you already are.
– Richie Norton
83. Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.
– Henry George
84. You don’t influence people by commanding them. When you are doing that, you are a manipulator and not a leader.
– Israelmore Ayivor
85. The future influences the present just as much as the past.
– Friedrich Nietzsche
86. All human beings wield influence—a powerful sword granted at birth. Wield your sword with care.
– Richelle E. Goodrich
87. Power is nothing unless you can turn it into influence.
– Condoleezza Rice
88. You get more reach and influence when you are being productive.
– Sunday Adelaja
89. Strong communicators increase their influence because they are intentional and focused with their language.
– Dianna Boohe
91. Many things go into influence. You must have a vision, develop your skills and abilities, know your audience, and plan, but at some point, you must take action. Without action, you have no influence.
– Josh Steimle
92. Having a title only doesn’t make one a leader; talented people without a title don’t follow blindly, they practice leadership via influence.
– Pearl Zhu
93. Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
– Mark Twain
94. It is easier to influence strong than weak characters in life.
– Margot Asquith
95. Influence is like a savings account, the less you use it, the more you’ve got.
– Andrew Young
96. Influence is when you are not the one talking and yet your words fill the room; when you are absent and yet your presence is felt everywhere.
– TemitOpe Ibrahim
97. The influential man is the successful man, whether he be rich or poor.
– Orison Swett Marden
98. The path to influence starts with your identity. Who you are, and who you become, will determine the impact you make.
– Josh Steimle
99. Influence is our inner ability to lift people up to our perspective.
– Joseph Wong
Strong leadership influence extends beyond individuals—it strengthens teams. According to 5 Low-Budget Indoor Team Building Activities for Employees, team-building exercises can enhance collaboration and trust, which are essential for leaders looking to expand their influence.
Leaders who integrate team motivation strategies into daily operations see higher engagement and productivity. This is because people respond positively to inspirational leadership that aligns with their goals and values.
Leadership influence is about much more than giving orders—it’s about inspiring action, shaping perspectives, and leading by example. Whether you’re looking to enhance your leadership training, develop personal effectiveness, or improve coaching skills, focusing on influence over authority can lead to long-term success.
What are your thoughts on influence in leadership? Which quote resonates most with you? Share your insights in the comments below!
Business simulation is a powerful tool for organizational development and training. It enables your employees to align business strategies, improve business finance skills, and business acumen, and ultimately drive the bottom line in your favour.
Continue reading “8 Signs Your Business Simulations Need a Re-vamp”
It would seem that the world is finally getting back on its feet. With the pandemic becoming a familiar constant and precautions, the way of life – the new normal has arrived. And, most organisations are trying to find their footing. Some are gradually opening their doors, while others are still contemplating the way forward.
Continue reading “What Makes Microlearning Engaging & Impactful?”
“I am not creative.”
Think twice before you make a statement like that, least it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Creativity is essential to get new businesses started, to sustain the best businesses, to bail out businesses that are struggling and to scale up existing businesses. And if you ask me, it’s a quality that can be developed with practice. From applying jugaad in every day situations to planning a surprise party for your best friend – creativity is an inherent part of our collective lives.
So, what stops people from being actively creative and embracing out-of-the-box thinking? A host of mental blocks and often, laziness. ( that is of course, just my humble opinion and you can choose to disagree with it all )
But we are not here today to talk about what stops us from being creative. Rather, I am here with a curated list of quotes that hopefully can inspire you into action. A list of quotes by the most well known creative geniuses to ever have lived, which should help ignite the spark of creativity within you.
And without much further ado, let’s get into it –
1. Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.
– Pablo Picasso
2. Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
– Vincent van Gogh
3. Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.
– Leo Burnett
4. You can’t wait for inspiration; you have to go after it with a club.
– Jack London
5. Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.
– George Bernard Shaw
6. Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
– Charles Mingus
7. Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self―conscious, and anything self―conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.
– Ray Bradbury
8. Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.
– Steve Jobs
9. Creativity is intelligence having fun.
– Albert Einstein
11. Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.
– Edward de Bono
12. Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought.
– Albert Einstein
13. Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.
– Bruce Garrabrandt
14. If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.
– John Cleese
15. If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
– Vincent Van Gogh
16. Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.
– Donatella Versace
17. Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.
— Cecil B. DeMille
18. Creativity is contagious, pass it on.
— Albert Einstein
19. Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
— C.E.M. Joad
21. Creativity takes courage.
― Henri Matisse
22. Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
― Walt Disney Company
23. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.
― Sylvia Plath
24. To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.
― Osho
25. The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.
― Pablo Picasso
26. You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
― Maya Angelou
27. A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
― Antoine de Saint―Exupery, The Little Prince
28. The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.
― Mikhail Bakunin
29. Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
― Scott Adams
31. Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they’re having a piss.
― Banksy, Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall
32. People who do a job that claims to be creative have to be alone to recharge their batteries. You can’t live 24 hours a day in the spotlight and remain creative. For people like me, solitude is a victory.
― Karl Lagerfeld
33. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty, they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the ‘creative bug’ is just a wee voice telling you, ‘I’d like my crayons back, please.
― Hugh MacLeod, Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
34. The road to creativity passes so close to the madhouse and often detours or ends there.
― Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death
35. Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use – do the work you want to see done.
― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist
36. True alchemy lies in this formula: ‘Your memory and your senses are but the nourishment of your creative impulse.
― Arthur Rimbaud, Illuminations
37. Creative people are often found either disagreeable or intimidating by mediocrities.
― Criss Jami, Killosophy
38. Creativity is an act of defiance.
― Twyla Tharp
39. Dance above the surface of the world. Let your thoughts lift you into creativity that is not hampered by opinion.
― Red Haircrow
41. What keeps life fascinating is the constant creativity of the soul.
― Deepak Chopra, Life After Death: The Burden of Proof
42. When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms. When creativity blossoms, thinking emanates. When thinking emanates, knowledge is fully lit. When knowledge is lit, economy flourishes.
― A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Indomitable Spirit
43. Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.
― Beatrix Potter
44. Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity
― T.S. Eliot
45. Absurdity and anti—absurdity are the two poles of creative energy.
― Karl Lagerfeld
46. There is no healthier drug than creativity.
― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt
47. Creative activity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
― Arthur Koestler, Drinkers of Infinity: Essays 1955―1967
48. I can always be distracted by love, but eventually I get horny for my creativity.
― Gilda Radner
49. Routine kills creative thought.
― Scarlett Thomas, PopCo
51. In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.
― Rollo May
52. Creativity is a continual surprise.
― Ray Bradbury
53. Creativity is as important now in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.
― Sir Ken Robinson
54. Creative power is mightier than its possessor.
― C.G. Jung
55. Creativity arises from our ability to see things from many different angles.
― Keri Smith, How to Be an Explorer of the World
56. We nurture our creativity when we release our inner child. Let it run and roam free. It will take you on a brighter journey.
― Serina Hartwell
57. Dive again and again into the river of uncertainty. Create in the dark, only then can you recognize the light.
― Jyrki Vainonen
58. Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order.
― Virginia Woolf
59. My future starts when I wake up every morning. Every day I find something creative to do with my life.
― Miles Davis
61. Imperfection inspires invention, imagination, creativity. It stimulates. The more I feel imperfect, the more I feel alive.
― Jhumpa Lahiri, In Other Words
62. Creativity is that marvelous capacity to grasp mutually distinct realities and draw a spark from their juxtaposition.
― Max Ernst
63. Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.
― George Lois
64. What if the very reason you were created was to be creative?
― Michelle Dennis Evans
65. Creativity is the brain’s invisible muscle ― that when used and exercised routinely ― becomes better and stronger.
― Ashley Ormon
66. Creativity is a gift. It doesn’t come through if the air is cluttered.
― John Lennon
67. The human spirit lives on creativity and dies in conformity and routine.
― Vilayat Inayat Khan
68. Arrogance kills creativity.
― A.M. Riley
69. Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.
― Alan Alda
71. Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience.
― Masaru Ibuka
72. Creativity – like human life itself, begins in darkness.
― Julia Cameron
73. Don’t try to follow trends. Create them.
― Simon Zingerman, We All Need Heroes
74. There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.
― Edward de Bono
75. Creativity thrives where its roots are crowded.
― Ozzie Zehner, Green Illusions
76. Creativity is one of the highest transmissions of love.
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun
77. Creating a better future, Requires creativity in the present.
― Matthew Goldfinger
78. We have one precious life: do something extraordinary today, even if it’s tiny. A pebble starts the avalanche.
― K.A. Laity
79. Get off the treadmill of consumption, replication, and mediocrity. Begin lifting the weights of creativity, originality, and success.
― Ryan Lilly
81. Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.
― Mary Lou Coo
82. There is no such thing as a new idea. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.
―Mark Twain.
83. Making the simple complicated is commonplace. Making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
― Charles Mingus
84. That’s the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you. ― Ray Bradbury
85. Create with the heart; build with the mind
― Criss Jami
86. Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence.
― Osho
87. Creativity is just connecting things.
―Steve Jobs
88. Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me.
― Steve Jobs
89. The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity.” ―Dan Stevens
91. Creativity makes a leap, then looks to see where it is.
― Mason Cooley
92. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.
― Edward de Bono
93. When we are angry or depressed in our creativity, we have misplaced our power.
―Julia Margaret Cameron
94. Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm.
― Earl Nightingale
95. Creativity is the greatest expression of liberty.
― Bryant H. McGill
96. Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.
― Eric Hoffer
97. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life.
― Daisaku Ikeda
98. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.
― Dee Hock
99. If you’re alive, you’re a creative person.
― Elizabeth Gilbert
I’d love to hear which of these quotes resonate stage most with you. Also, feel free to share hacks that help you be more creative. We can all use all the help we can get.
Most of us will have some amazing memories of their grandparents. Memories like being fed divine food ( read : overfed ), receiving toys, always getting more money than you ask for, and of course the countless hugs and kisses. I was also one of the luckiest people to experience all this and much more.
Whenever a group of people brainstorm over an idea, team conflict is bound to happen. Differences in opinions lead to healthy debates, fostering innovation and deeper understanding. However, conflict management is essential to ensure these disagreements remain productive and do not escalate into workplace relationships issues.
Effective conflict resolution creates opportunities for learning, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. It challenges teams to explore different perspectives, enhances team dynamics, and builds trust among employees. However, unresolved conflicts can result in breakdowns in communication, strained relationships, and reduced employee engagement.
According to our Conflict Management Program, handling workplace conflicts effectively leads to:
The key is not to avoid conflicts but to manage them constructively. To better understand how effective communication, active listening, and negotiation skills play a role in resolving conflicts, here’s a collection of 100 insightful quotes on conflict resolution.
1.“The quality of our lives depends not on whether or not we have conflicts, but on how we respond to them.” – Thomas Crum
2. “Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.” – Max Lucado
3. “All conflict can be traced back to someone’s feelings getting hurt, don’t you think?” – Liane Moriarty
4.“A willingness to trust and openly listen to alternative ideas and views is essential for collaboration to be successful.” – Dale Eilerman
5. “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.” – Mahatma Gandhi
6.“You can’t win an argument. You can’t because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it.” – Dale Carnegie
7. “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” – Hamlet
8. “When conflict becomes a win-lose contest in our minds, we immediately try to win.” – Thomas Crum
9. “Most misunderstandings could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, ‘What else could this mean?’” – Shannon Alder
10. “Active listening is not just hearing what is said, but understanding what is meant.” – Unknown
Related Read: 3 Pointers for Managing Team Conflict
11. “Knowing when to fight is just as important as knowing how.” – Terry Goodkind
12. “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” – Mahatma Gandhi
13. “Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” – Ambrose Bierce
14. “Emotional intelligence allows us to separate people from the problem.” – Ury, Fisher & Patton
15. “A great leader understands that conflict is not about winning; it’s about resolving.” – John Maxwell
Related Read: Why Cross-Functional Collaboration Is Essential for Your Company
16. “Trust is the foundation of collaboration. Without it, there is no team.” – Stephen Covey
17. “The best way to resolve conflict is not to avoid it but to address it head-on.” – Unknown
18. “People are disturbed not by things, but by the view they take of them.” – Epictetus
19. “Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.” – Unknown
20. “Creating a psychologically safe space allows teams to challenge each other without fear.” – FocusU
Related Read: The Three C’s of a Workshop: Competition, Complements, and Collaboration
21. “Collaboration tools are only as good as the team’s ability to communicate effectively.” – MIT Research
22. “Remote teams thrive when they over-communicate and set clear expectations.” – Deloitte Study
23. “Virtual conflicts require real-world solutions. Miscommunication is the root cause.” – Harvard Business Review
24. “Trust is even more critical in virtual teams. Without it, misunderstandings multiply.” – FocusU
25. “The best virtual teams create a culture of transparency and shared goals.” – Gartner Research
Related Read: 5 Tricks for a Virtual Team to Collaborate Effectively
26. Do not think of knocking out another person’s brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago.
— Horace Mann
27. We may have different points of arguments from perspectives of belief, faith and religion. But we must not hate each other. We are one human family.
— Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
28. 90% of relationship issues are caused by misunderstandings, 9.9% by conflicts of interest. Luckily, ladies and gentlemen can always come to an agreement.
— Stefan Emunds
29. Healing is the end of conflict with yourself.
— Unknown
30. When introverts are in conflict with each other, it may require a map in order to follow all the silences, nonverbal cues, and passive-aggressive behaviors!
— Adam S. McHugh
31. Marriage means expectations and expectations mean conflict.
– Paxton Blair
32. I have a self-made quote: Celebrate diversity, practice acceptance and may we all choose peaceful options to conflict.
— Donzella Michele Malone
33. If I, taking care of everyone’s interests, also take care of my own, you can’t talk about a conflict of interest.
— Silvio Berlusconi
34. The need for justice grows out of the conflict of human interests. That is to say, if there were no conflict of interests among mankind, we should never have invented the word justice, nor conceived the idea for which it stands.
— Thomas Nixon Carver
35. When you run for president, you have certain obligations. One of them would be to avoid even the appearance of conflicts of interest.
— Charles Schumer
36. Today everything’s a conflict of interest.
— Sid Vicious
37. Often those that criticise others reveal what he himself lacks
— Shannon L. Alder
38. My wife Mary and I have been married for forty-seven years and not once have we had an argument serious enough to consider divorce; murder, yes, but divorce, never.
– Jack Benny
39. The president can’t have a conflict of interest.
— Donald Trump
40. Did it ever occur to you, that there is no conflict of interests among men, neither in business nor in trade nor in their most personal desires – if they omit the irrational from their view of the possible and destruction from their view of the practical?
– Ayn Rand
41. Because people aren’t perfect and relationships are messy, we all need to learn how to resolve conflicts.
— John Maxwell
42. Peace is better than war, because conflict resolutions can be made without a wastage of life and resources.
— Gugu Mona
43. Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
— Douglas Adams
44. Conflict can destroy a team, which hasn’t spent time learning to deal with it.
– Thomas Isgar
45. I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.
– Margaret Thatcher.
46. Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.
— William James
47. Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
— Winston Churchill
48. Arguments drag out because one is too stubborn to forgive and the other is too proud to apologise.
— Unknown
49. Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else’s can shorten it.
— Cullen Hightower
50. The most important thing in any negotiation, almost, is making sure that you strip it of the emotion and deal with the fact.
– Howard Baker
51. The better able team members are to engage, speak, listen, hear, interpret, and respond constructively, the more likely their teams are to leverage conflict rather than be levelled by it.
— Runde and Flanagan
52. Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.
— Wayne Dyer
53. In a conflict, being willing to change allows you to move from a point of view to a viewing point – a higher, more expansive place, from which you can see both sides.
— Thomas Crum
54. They say marriages are made in Heaven. But so is thunder and lightning.
— Clint Eastwood
55. Every conflict we face in life is rich with positive and negative potential. It can be a source of inspiration, enlightenment, learning, transformation, and growth-or rage, fear, shame, entrapment, and resistance. The choice is not up to our opponents, but to us, and our willingness to face and work through them.
— Kenneth Cloke
56. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.
— Harper Lee
57. The days are too short even for love; how can there be enough time for quarrelling.
— Margaret Gatty
58. Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
— Benjamin Franklin
59. An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything.
— Lynn Johnston
60. Don’t be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against, not with, the wind.
— Hamilton Wright Mabie
61. To practice the process of conflict resolution, we must completely abandon the goal of getting people to do what we want.
— Marshall B. Rosenberg
62. There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them.
— Phyllis Bottome
63. Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.
— Saul Alinsky
64. To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.
— Aristotle
65. We can often do more for other men by trying to correct our own faults than by trying to correct theirs.
— Francois Fenelon
66. By the time a man realizes that his father was right, he has a son who thinks he’s wrong.
— Charles Wadsworth
67. Anyone can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way – that is not easy.
— Aristotle
68. If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it’s another nonconformist who doesn’t conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.
— Bill Vaughan
69. Never ascribe to an opponent motive meaner than your own.
— John M. Barrie
70. You do not achieve anything without trouble, ever.
— Margaret Thatcher
71. One might as well try to ride two horses moving in different directions, as to try tomaintain in equal force two opposing or contradictory sets of desires
72. No one in history has ever been insulted into agreement.
— Arthur Brooks
73. If war is the violent resolution of conflict, then peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather, the ability to resolve conflict without violence.
— C.T. Lawrence Butler
74. One of the most basic principles for making and keeping peace within and between nations…is that in political, military, moral, and spiritual confrontations, there should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat.
— Jimmy Carter
75. Peace is not absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.
— Ronald Reagan
76. A stiff apology is a second insult. The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.
— G.K. Chesterton
77. Every conflict we face in life is rich with positive and negative potential. It can be a source of inspiration, enlightenment, learning, transformation, and growth–or rage, fear, shame, entrapment, and resistance. The choice is not up to our opponents, but to us, and our willingness to face and work through them.
— Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith
78. You can’t talk your way out of something you behaved your way into. You have to behave your way out of it.
— Doug Conant (CEO of Campbell Soup, as quoted in Harvard Business Review)
79. Do not kid yourself- a conflict is never about the surface issue. It is about the ones unsaid, untreated and unhealed wounds.
— Unknown
80. There is little value in preparing a cookbook of recipes for conflict success. The effects of conflict interaction depend directly on what the participants do mentally with conflict behaviour—that is, how they process and interpret their behaviour.
— William Cupach & Daniel Canary
81. I believe that the basic nature of human beings is gentle and compassionate. It is therefore in our own interest to encourage that nature, to make it live within us, to leave room for it to develop. If on the contrary we use violence, it is as if we voluntarily obstruct the positive side of human nature and prevent its evolution.
— His Holiness the Dalai Lama
82. To a disciple who was forever complaining about others the Master said, ‘If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.
— Anthony de Mello
83. The longer we listen to one another – with real attention – the more commonality we will find in all our lives. That is, if we are careful to exchange with one another life stories and not simply opinions.
— Barbara Deming
84. Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheeplike passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving.
— John Dewey
85. The more incompetent one feels, the more eager he is to fight.
– Fyodor Dostoyevsky
86. The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way in which we use them.
– Adriana Doyle
87. Whenever two good people argue over principles, they are both right.
— Marie Ebner von Eschenbach
88. The problem with holding a grudge is that your hands are then too full to hold onto anything else.
— Seth Godin
89. We don’t get harmony when everybody sings the same note. Only notes that are different can harmonize. The same is true with people.
— Steve Goodier
90. What people often mean by getting rid of conflict is getting rid of diversity, and it is of utmost importance that these should not be considered the same. We may wish to abolish conflict, but we cannot get rid of diversity. Fear of difference is fear of life itself.
— Mary Parker Follett
91. You can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.
— Buckminister Fuller
92. It is possible to conceive conflict as not necessarily a wasteful outbreak of incompatibilities, but a normal process by which socially valuable differences register themselves for the enrichment of all concerned.
— Mary Parker Follett
93. If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.
— Benjamin Franklin
94. Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.
— Robert Frost
95. You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.
— Indira Gandhi
96. What may appear as the truth to one person will often appear as untruth to another person. But that need not worry the seeker. Where there is honest effort, it will be realized that what appeared to be different truths are like the countless and apparently different leaves of the same tree.
— Gandhi
97. Listening is not waiting to talk.
— Scott Ginsberg
98. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply
— Stephen R Covey.
99. 10% of conflicts is due to difference in opinion and 90% is due to wrong tone of voice.
— Susan Wiertzema
100. Conflict cannot survive without your participation.
— Wayne Dyer
That brings us to the end of this exhaustive list. Do let us know the quote you found most relatable. We would love to hear from you!
Also, if you would like us to add any quote to this list, feel free to drop a comment.
Conflict in the workplace is inevitable, but managing conflict effectively strengthens relationships, fosters team motivation, and promotes a positive workplace culture. Leaders who cultivate emotional intelligence, active listening, and trust-building practices can transform conflicts into opportunities for growth and success.
What are your thoughts on conflict resolution? Share your favorite quote in the comments!
That brings us to the end of this exhaustive list. Do let us know the quote you found most relatable. We would love to hear from you!
Also, if you would like us to add any quote to this list, feel free to drop a comment.
