Who said that?

You’ll need

Pens or pencils
A4 paper
Access to a printer (optional)

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers

Setting up this activity

You can print out the example quotes about leadership below.
You can put together a list of your own quotes to use in this activity.
You might only want to choose 10-15 quotes from the list below.

Talking about leadership

Gather everyone in a circle.
Have a quick chat with everyone about leadership and how it can come in many different forms.
Talk about what people think leadership means and chat about who people may associate with being a leader.
Ask what people think the qualities of a good leader are and what good leadership means to them.
Ask if anyone can think of a time they've shown leadership and, if they're happy and comfortable to, they could share it with the group.

Run the activity

Ask everyone to get into pairs, grab a pen and piece of paper and find somewhere to sit in the meeting place.
Explain that you're going to play a matching pairs game, where pairs must match the quote to the person. Tell everyone you'll read out a quote about leadership and, using a list of names, pairs will have to work together to match the quote to the person they think said it.
Give everyone a list of the people who said their quotes and the job role they have or did. This could be read out and written down, or printed. This list of names will help people to match the person to the quote.
Get everyone to write numbers on their piece of paper to keep track of their answers to the quotes.
Read out the first quote. Give everyone 60 seconds to discuss and write down their answers.
Continue to read out each quote one by one, giving time for people to write down their answers, until they have all been read out. When all the quotes have been read out, ask if any need repeating.
Go through the answers to see how well everyone did.
At the end, talk about the people who had said the famous quotes. Were there any that surprised anyone? Which ones did people know? Is there anyone on the list that people haven’t heard of? Can anyone think of any other quotes about leadership that they have heard before?

Example leadership quotes

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” - Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Independence Movement leader

“People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together.” - Michelle Obama, lawyer, writer and former First Lady

“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” - Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady

“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” - Ronald Reagan, former US president

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower, former US president

“A leader... is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” - Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid activist and politician

“A leader is a dealer in hope.” - Napoleon, military commander and political leader

“I don't see myself being special; I just see myself having more responsibilities than the next man. People look to me to do things for them, to have answers.” - Tupac Shakur, rapper and actor

“Earn your leadership every day.” - Michael Jordan, former basketball player

“My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better.” - Steve Jobs, American businessman and former CEO of Apple

“He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” - Aristotle, Ancient Greek philosopher

“I’m not afraid to fail. I’m not afraid to fall over and make a mistake. That often cripples people on the onset of getting into anything.” – Idris Elba, actor

“I allow myself to fail. I allow myself to break. I’m not afraid of my flaws.” - Lady Gaga, musician

“I start early, and I stay late, day after day, year after year. It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.” - Lionel Messi, footballer

“Never let success go to your head, never let failure get to your heart.” - Beyonce, musician

“I like to tell different stories and use my imagination. But generally, it is about our expectations, their belief in themselves, and their trust in each other.” - Sir Alex Ferguson, former football manager and player

“I feel extremely lucky to compete openly as who I am, not worry about ramifications.” - Tom Daley, Olympic medalist and diver

“Life's full of lots of dream-stealers always telling you that you need to do something more sensible. I think it doesn't matter what your dream is, just fight the dream-stealers and hold onto it.” - Bear Grylls, Chief Scout, adventurer, presenter and writer

“My hardest lesson has been my most fruitful, too: that when people don't believe in me, I can prove them wrong.” - Alex Scott, former footballer and presenter

“The bigger your platform - the bigger your responsibility.” – Greta Thunberg, climate activist

“When I first started, I wasn't trying to go viral. I just liked making funny videos, content that people would enjoy.” - Lil Nas X, musician

“With great power, comes great responsibility,” - Spider-Man, Marvel superhero

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.” - Dolly Parton, musician

“People respond well to those that are sure of what they want.” - Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” - Malala Yousafzai, activist

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” - Barack Obama, former U.S. President

“It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.” ― Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

"Communication is the most important skill any leader can possess." - Richard Branson, businessman

"The leader is one who, out of the clutter, brings simplicity... Out of discord, harmony... And out of difficult, opportunity." - Albert Einstein, scientist

Reflection

This activity needed you to work together to figure out which leader said which quote. Did you know any of the quotes already? Were there any quotes which you understood better?

Think about what you are doing in your personal life. Could any of the quotes help support and motivate you?

There are lots of different types of leaders, even some people we might not associate with being a leader. Which quote and leader surprised you the most? Think about if there was someone you didn’t think as a leader, what was it about their quote that made you think differently?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.