A new leader has to be able to change an organization that is dreamless, soulless and visionless... someone's got to make a wake up call.

Think of a crucible as an occasion for real magic, the creation of something more valuable than an alchemist could possibly imagine. In it, the individual is transformed, changed, created anew. He or she grows in ways that change his or her definition of self.

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.

Perhaps the central task of the leader of leaders thus becomes the development of other leaders.

What job is worth the enormous psychic cost of following a leader who values loyalty in the narrowest sense.

Growing other leaders from the ranks isn't just the duty of the leader, it's an obligation.

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.