Leaders do stuff that matters.

If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade.

OLD: Be No.1 or No.2 in Your Market. NEW: Find a Niche, Create Something New.

Start by identifying the qualities or characteristics that make you distinctive from your competitors - or your colleagues. What have you done lately - this week - to make yourself stand out? What would your colleagues or your customers say is your greatest and clearest strength? Your most noteworthy (as in, worthy of note) personal trait?

Excellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change.

Passion. The life of an entrepreneur is occasionally exhilarating, and almost always exhausting. Only unbridled passion for the concept is likely to see you through the 17-hour days (month after month) and the painful mistakes that are part and parcel of the start-up process.

When you choose a managerial path, you are choosing to devote your life to people. Period.