You never do arrive at a destination. You have to work at it and take ownership of the process. What resonates at age 25 is likely to change by age 35 and 45. The process never ends. Realizing this has been a big breakthrough for me.

Vision and priorities should precede actions. Actions should be judged through the prism of how the firm adds value and the key competencies it seeks to build.

Passion is the rocket fuel that helps you perform at your best. It helps you get through bad days, injustices, hardships and disappointments. It is hard to perform at a high level for a sustained period of time without passion for what you're doing.

If you're the smartest person in the room, it can sometimes be hard to learn to delegate - the person to whom you're delegating will do the task worse than you would - and it will annoy you!

There's a step that leaders need to take; they've got to understand themselves.

The vision must be realistic - it has to be based on clear distinctive competencies. Again, what would the world lose if you didn't exist? A vision is very powerful because it gives you a basis to judge every action you take. Every action should be viewed through the prism of whether it furthers the vision.

Personal relationships are often based on affection - professional relationships can have affection but they must have mutual understanding, trust and respect.