The new leader is one who commits people to action, who converts followers into leaders, and who may convert leaders into agents of change.

Unlike top management at Enron, exemplary leaders reward dissent. They encourage it. They understand that, whatever momentary discomfort they experience as a result of being told they might be wrong, it is more than offset by the fact that the information will help them make better decisions.

The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.

If I had to reduce the responsibilities of a good follower to a single rule, it would be to speak truth to power.

Recognize the skills and traits you don't possess, and hire the people who have them.

That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.

Create strategic alliances and partnerships: Now and in years to come, shrewd leaders will create allegiances with other organizations whose fates are correlated with their own.