Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership Quotes

“Ultimately, a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus. I would rather be a man of conviction than a man of conformity.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“The future of America is bound up in the present crisis. If America is to remain a first-class nation, it cannot have a second-class citizenship.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“Freedom is never voluntarily granted by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed,”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“There comes a time when one must take the position that it is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because his conscience tells him it is right.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“Teams bring together a broader mix of skills that exceed those of any single individual. 2. Teams jointly develop and strive toward clear goals. 3. Teams can adjust with greater speed and effectiveness. 4. Trust and confidence are more easily built in teams.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“One of his first initiatives for the church, for instance, was to set up a “serious evangelistic campaign” that would be carried on throughout his first full year. “This campaign,” he wrote in a letter of recommendation, “shall be carried out by 25 evangelistic teams, each consisting of a captain and at least three other members. Each team shall be urged to bring in at least five new members within the church year. The team that brings in the highest number of members shall be duly recognized at the end of the church year. Each captain shall call his team together at least once a month to discuss findings and possibilities.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“The greatest channel to peace” he said, “[involves] talking about problems…. For as long as we have men, we are going to have differences. And it seems to me we can disagree without being disagreeable.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“Creative power can pull down mountains of evil and level hilltops of injustice.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“Nothing could be more tragic than for men to live in these revolutionary times and fail to achieve the new attitudes and the new mental outlooks that the new situation demands.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“Leadership never ascends from the pew to the pulpit, but invariably descends from the pulpit to the pew.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“Press on and keep pressing. If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk—CRAWL.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“The marches in Albany concentrated on city hall where they had little leverage and no votes. “All of our marches in Albany,” said Martin, “were to the city hall trying to make them negotiate, where if we had centered our protests at the businesses in the city, [we could have] made the merchants negotiate. And if you can pull them around, you pull the political power structure because the political power structure listens to the economic power structure.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder,” he said. “Through violence you may murder a liar but you can’t establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times

“Partly as a result of the president’s inaction, by 1956 nearly every southern state had enacted legislation that declared the Brown ruling null and void.”
― Donald T. Phillips, Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times