Understand the "Gretzky Factor": Cultivate an instinct, a "touch", call it what you will, that enables you to know both where the "puck" is now and where it will be soon.

If I were to give off-the-cuff advice to anyone trying to institute change, I would say, "How clear is the metaphor?"

Great Groups need to know that the person at the top will fight like a tiger for them.

I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation.

Charisma is the result of effective leadership, not the other way around.

I'd always rather err on the side of openness. But there's a difference between optimum and maximum openness, and fixing that boundary is a judgment call. The art of leadership is knowing how much information you're going to pass on - to keep people motivated and to be as honest, as upfront, as you can. But, boy, there really are limits to that.

Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.