The really good news is that when you give people the tools and the support to pursue what I call "four-way wins" - that is, improved performance in all parts of life - they are actually much likely to achieve these wins and, through the process, develop further their leadership skills.

People struggle most with seeing new ways of doing things and often need help in breaking through their tradition-bound mindsets.

I've been writing for decades that balance is an inapt metaphor as it necessarily entails tradeoffs.

The only failure is the failure to learn from conscious and deliberate efforts to make things better, even if those attempts fall short of the mark.

The more attention we can devote to helping developing leaders tune in to their core values - drawing on their real experience and their true aspirations in life - the more likely it is they'll make smart choices about how and where to invest their talents.

Executives are afraid of losing control if subordinates try to roam too far. Conversely, hierarchy squelches talent by forcing rote standardization through the punishment of failure, a necessary accompaniment to experimentation.

No one can have it all, at the same time. I've never seen that.