Stellar teams are invariably made up of quirky individuals who typically rub each other raw, but they figure out - with the spiritual help of a gifted leader - how to be their peculiar selves and how to win championships as a team...at the same time.

Leaders' careers will usually be determined by their handling of one or two critical events that no one could possibly anticipate or plan for.

Community. A friend started a real estate brokerage a few years ago. By the time she'd added her second employee, she was a pillar of her 35,000-person community. No rule says that only the local banker or car dealer can organize the program to raise supplemental funds for the public library or send the high school band on a well-earned special trip. Participating in community affairs, with time more than dollars, is good business from day one. It gets your name around, adds to your distinctiveness, and, best of all, makes you an attractive employer (which is the key to sustained success).

Vision is dandy, but sustainable company excellence comes from a huge stable of able managers.

Nothing good or great can be done in the absence of enthusiasm.

Integrity may be about little things as much or more than big ones.

The top athletes are consummate pros who work obsessively at their craft. Approach yours the same way.