The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.

Government is like an onion. To understand it, you have to peel through many different layers. Most outsiders never get beyond the first or second layer.

The learning person looks forward to failure or mistakes. The worst problem in leadership is basically early success.

Ineffective leaders often act on the advice and counsel of the last person they talked to.

Learning to be an effective leader is no different than learning to be an effective person. And that's the hard part

Leaders wonder about everything, want to learn as much as they can, are willing to take risks, experiment, try new things. They do not worry about failure but embrace errors, knowing they will learn from them.

This is more than just having a vision. You can see the difference in the often-cited way in which Steve Jobs brought in John Sculley to take over Apple. At the time, Sculley was destined to be the head of Pepsico. The clincher came when Jobs asked him, "How many more years of your life do you want to spend making colored water when you can have an opportunity to come here and change the world?"