Almost without exception, members of great groups see themselves as winning underdogs, as a feisty David hurling fresh ideas at a big, backward-looking Goliath. They always have an "enemy."

The ability to plan for what has not yet happened, for a future that has only been imagined, is one of the hallmarks of leadership.

If knowing yourself and being yourself were as easy to do as to talk about, there wouldn't be nearly so many people walking around in borrowed postures, spouting secondhand ideas, trying desperately to fit in rather than to stand out.

The leader...is rarely the brightest person in the group. Rather they have extraordinary taste, which makes them more curators than creators. They are appreciators of talent and nurturers of talent and they have the ability to recognize valuable ideas.

To be authentic is literally to be your own author... to discover your own native energies and desires, and then to find your own way of acting on them.

Great groups deliver great results. And for everyone involved in a great group, great work is its own reward.

Ineffective leaders often act on the advice and counsel of the last person they talked to.