A friend of mine characterizes leaders simply like this: Leaders don't inflict pain. They bear pain.

A friend of mine characterizes leaders simply like this: Leaders don't inflict pain. They bear pain.

Intimacy is at the heart of competence. It has to do with understanding, with believing, and with practice. It has to do with the relationship to one's work.

Above all, leadership is a position of servanthood.

A whale is as unique as a cactus. But don't ask a whale to survive Death Valley. We all have special gifts. Where we use them and how determines whether we actually complete something.

Leadership is much more an art, a belief, a condition of the heart, than a set of things to do.

A short term view will lead to a partial and perhaps twisted view of the whole picture. A crucial element may be missing. We may not be running the entire race. A friend of mine described a colleague as great at running the "ninety-five yard dash." That is a distinction I can do without. Lacking the last five yards makes the first ninety-five pointless. In fact, serious runners thing of it as a 110 yard dash so that no one will best them in the last few yards. You've got to think beyond the whole.