A self-reinforcing upward spiral: performance stimulating pride stimulating performance.

Corporate men and women, once divided by striking differences in opportunity for career growth, have come to share career chaos.

A great idea is not enough.

Confidence is the bridge connecting expectations and performance, investment and results.

Sports is a perfect activity in which to see streaks and cycles, organizational and otherwise, in action - and to watch confidence build or erode. There are repeated episodes of performance with similar rules and clear winners or losers. I added team sports to my studies of business because there are excellent parallels to work groups in the performance of sports teams and also excellent parallels to larger, more complex businesses or organizations in the strategy, structure, and culture surrounding any particular team.

The difference between "winners" and "losers" is not whether they face obstacles and setbacks - we all do, and it is inevitable that plans do not unfold exactly as imagined or that unexpected events surprise us or that a few mistakes happen. The real difference is that "winners" bounce back from a fumble or a loss by refusing to panic, analyzing the situation and looking for positive actions they can take to correct the problem, and then go on to resume winning.

It takes courage to speak up against complacency and injustice while others remain silent. But that's what leadership is.