Leaders should always expect the very best of those around them. They know that people can change and grow.

No leader can create sustainable, significant change without a reservoir of good will. Without that, you always tend to compromise with failure.

Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.

Encourage dissent: Leaders should have associates who have contrary views, who are devil's advocates, "variance sensors" who can tell them the difference between what is expected and what is really happening, between what they want to hear and what they need to hear. There are too many naked emperors running around today.

People in great groups have blinders on. Their work is all they see. They value failures as learning opportunities. They are optimistic, not realistic, as they proceed from one challenge and crisis to the next.

You are your own raw material. When you know what you consist of and what you want to make of it, then you can invent yourself.

Around the world, the generals are being ousted, and the poets are taking charge.