Expect the best from your people and they will usually deliver but your expectations must be realistic.

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

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.

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

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

While great leaders may be as rare as great runners, great actors, or great painters, everyone has leadership potential, just as everyone has some ability at running, acting, and painting.

The opposite of hope is despair, and when we despair, it is because we feel there are no choices.