Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.

A leader is someone whose actions have the most profound consequences on other people's lives, for better or worse, sometime forever and ever.

More leaders have been made by accident, circumstance, sheer grit, or will than have been made by all the leadership courses put together.

This duality, making yourself better while teaching and developing others' judgment capabilities, is the key to leadership that is both productive and principled.

Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line.

Perhaps the central task of the leader of leaders thus becomes the development of other leaders.

Leading with character gives the wise leader clear-cut advantages. They are easier to trust and follow; they honor commitments and promises; their words and behavior match; they are always engaged in and by the world; they are open to "reflective backtalk": they can speak with conviction because they believe in what they are saying...and everyone else knows that. They are comfortable in their own skin. They feel at ease in the spotlight and they enjoy it there. They tend to be more receptive to opportunity and risk.