Don't over-react to the trouble makers.

In life, change is inevitable. In business, change is vital.

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.

The leaders I met, whatever walk of life they were from, whatever institutions they were presiding over, always referred back to the same failure something that happened to them that was personally difficult, even traumatic, something that made them feel that desperate sense of hitting bottom-as something they thought was almost a necessity. It's as if at that moment the iron entered their soul; that moment created the resilience that leaders need.

Recognize and respect mutual self-interests, then build creative collaborations to serve them.

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.

Leaders know the importance of having someone in their lives who will unfailingly and fearlessly tell them the truth.