Embrace error: Create an atmosphere in which prudent risk taking is strongly encouraged.

Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.

The failure to find the right niche for people - or to let them find their own perfect niches - is a major reason that so many workplaces are mediocre, even toxic, in spite of the presence of talent. Leaders of great groups give them whatever they need and free them from everything else.

Leadership is like beauty - it's hard to define but you know it when you see it.

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.

That is the key challenge facing management today; change is the only constant.

Organizations have to come to grips with the fact that tests of adaptive capability aren't always pleasant. Learning can be a powerful emotional event, and organizations have to be cognizant of that. They must understand that those who complete high-quality executive education programs are going to see the organization with fresh eyes after they return. Those who re-enter the workplace filled with new enthusiasm and new ideas often find a chilly response on the part of their supervisors.