The most common mistake you'll make is forgetting to keep your own scorecard. Very little at work reinforces your ability to do this, so you will have to be vigilant. When evaluators give you an assessment, they are just guessing at who you are; they certainly are not the ones who know your potential. They can rate you and influence you, but they don't get to define you. That's your most honorable assignment: to define, every day through the way you deliver your work, the scope and nature of your inherent abilities.

Speaking with passion born of your own authentic experience and belief is always persuasive.

Consensus is a poor substitute for leadership.

The men at the top aren't that great at properly assessing the women under them, certainly not enough to gauge their potential or intestinal fortitude.

Here's what I believe is sexy at work: being strong and committed and confident, being precisely who you are and in hot pursuit of the goals and ideas you believe in so much they captivate and inspire others.

The most common mistake you'll make is forgetting to keep your own scorecard. Very little at work reinforces your ability to do this, so you will have to be vigilant. When evaluators give you an assessment, they are just guessing at who you are; they certainly are not the ones who know your potential. They can rate you and influence you, but they don't get to define you. That's your most honorable assignment: to define, every day through the way you deliver your work, the scope and nature of your inherent abilities.

Speaking passionately from the very center of who you are is compelling, forceful, persuasive: that’s what leadership sounds like.