Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence.

Take the middle 70 percent and tell them what they need to do to get into the top 20 percent.

Does coaching work? Yes. Good coaches provide a truly important service. They tell you the truth when no one else will.

Approach every meeting with a purposeful, high-energy, ready-to-make-a-contribution attitude, and watch how fast leadership’s perception of you follows your behavior.

Business is a game, and as with all games, the team that puts the best people on the field and gets them playing together wins. It's that simple.

You can't believe how hard it is for people to be simple, how much they fear being simple. They worry that if they're simple, people will think they're simpleminded. In reality, of course, it's just the reverse. Clear, tough-minded people are the most simple.

Arrogance is a killer, and wearing ambition on one's sleeve can have the same effect. There is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence.