More leaders have been made by accident, circumstance, sheer grit, or will than have been made by all the leadership courses put together.

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.

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

Success in management requires learning as fast as the world is changing.

Manage the dream: Create a compelling vision, one that takes people to a new place, and then translate that vision into a reality.

This duality, making yourself better while teaching and developing others' judgment capabilities, is the key to leadership that is both productive and principled.

To be authentic is literally to be your own author... to discover your own native energies and desires, and then to find your own way of acting on them.