---
title: "1 Leadership America Quotes By William Deresiewicz"
description: "1 Leadership America quotes by William Deresiewicz. Plus more from William Deresiewicz and more Leadership America sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg"
---

> [“We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-america-because-our-overwhelming/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg)

## More by William Deresiewicz

> [Life, if you live it right, keeps surprising you, and the thing that keeps surprising you the most…is yourself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/life-if-you-live-it-right-keeps-surprising-you-and-the-thing-that/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [ “\[Jane\] Austen was not a novelist for nothing: she knew that our stories are what make us human, and that listening to someone else's… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/jane-austen-was-not-a-novelist-for-nothing-she-knew-that-our-stories/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“No real excellence, personal or social, artistic, philosophical, scientific, or moral, can arise without solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/no-real-excellence-personal-or-social-artistic-philosophical/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [If you're oblivious to other people, chances are pretty good that you're going to hurt them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/if-you-re-oblivious-to-other-people-chances-are-pretty-good-that-you/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [Don't play it safe. Resist the seductions of the cowardly values our society has come to prize so highly: comfort, convenience, security, predictability, control.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/don-t-play-it-safe-resist-the-seductions-of-the-cowardly-values-our/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“there’s a bigger social reward for being able to talk about books than for actually reading them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/there-s-a-bigger-social-reward-for-being-able-to-talk-about-books/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [We proceed by doubt, by trial and error, by resisting the impulse to lunge after certainty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/we-proceed-by-doubt-by-trial-and-error-by-resisting-the-impulse-to/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“...Novels--which, after all, are training grounds for responding to the world, imaginative sanctuaries in which to hone and test our ethical judgments and choices.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/novels-which-after-all-are-training-grounds-for-responding-to-the/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [People’s stories are the most personal thing they have, and paying attention to those stories is just about the most important thing you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/people-s-stories-are-the-most-personal-thing-they-have-and-paying/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“Life is more than a job; jobs are more than a paycheck; and a country is more than its wealth. Education is more than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/life-is-more-than-a-job-jobs-are-more-than-a-paycheck-and-a-country/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“By the time they finish high school—after years of learning how to please their teachers and coaches, not to mention schmoozing with their parents’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/by-the-time-they-finish-high-school-after-years-of-learning-how-to/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“Getting A’s no longer means that everything’s okay, assuming that it ever did. “We have students, who, no matter what else is going on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/getting-a-s-no-longer-means-that-everything-s-okay-assuming-that-it/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“Both kinds of parenting, finally, are forms of overidentification. The helicopter parent turns the child into an instrument of her will. The overindulgent parent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/both-kinds-of-parenting-finally-are-forms-of-overidentification-the/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“A friend who teaches at a top university once asked her class to memorize thirty lines of the eighteenth-century poet Alexander Pope. Every single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/a-friend-who-teaches-at-a-top-university-once-asked-her-class-to/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

> [“We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-america-because-our-overwhelming/)

[William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership-america/william-deresiewicz/#itemlist",
            "name": "1 Leadership America Quotes By William Deresiewicz",
            "numberOfItems": 1,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of exper­tise. What we don’t have are leaders. What we don’t have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army—a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "William Deresiewicz"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-america-because-our-overwhelming/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier…” — William Deresiewicz",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership-america/william-deresiewicz/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership-america/william-deresiewicz/",
            "name": "Leadership America Quotes by William Deresiewicz",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership-america/william-deresiewicz/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/707/william-deresiewicz-15471_doing-things_we-have-a-crisis-of-leadership-in-americ_1229346.jpg"
            },
            "description": "1 Leadership America quotes by William Deresiewicz. Plus more from William Deresiewicz and more Leadership America sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership-america/william-deresiewicz/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership-america/william-deresiewicz/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Leadership America",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership-america/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "William Deresiewicz",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership-america/william-deresiewicz/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```