1. Leadership cannot be done by the numbers.
2. Academic credentials and technical experience do not make someone a leader capable of taking an organization and people to new heights.
3. Leadership is an uncommon composite of skill, experience, and ripened personal perspectives.
4. Real leadership comes from inside, and requires the cultivation of a personal philosophy that examines the nuances and complexities of life.
5. Only those men and women who have cultivated a carefully conceived philosophy of life are ready and able to exhibit the kind of workplace mastery suggested by the term “leader.”
6. The assumption of authority brings out the leader’s inner world.
7. Toxic environments are not the result of spontaneous bad fortune. They are the result of toxic leaders.
8. The abusive application of power is the only way some leaders can attain a sense of security and confidence in life.
9. Of all the many potential shortcomings an assumed leader might bring to an organization, nothing is more lethal than the arbitrary application of power.
10. Supervisors who constantly micromanage, who second-guess every subordinate decision, who gleefully await any and all opportunities to criticize and bully, are a toxic presence in any environment.
11. The most lethal distortions come not from the lips of our opponents or competitors. They tend to flow, instead, from our own hearts.
12. A confident leader can be a valuable asset for an organization. However, when self-assurance crosses the line and becomes rash presumption, the executive turns from an asset to a liability.
13. Leaders who fail to understand their own deficiencies and limitations become performers in mock dramas in which the actors no longer understand that they are acting. The organization pays the price.
14. Truth is an invaluable corporate asset. Don’t let it go waste. Embrace it.
15. Never underestimate the power of personal integrity; always set an honorable agenda; adhere to a code of professional conduct; never try to justify dishonesty and deceit; rather fail with honor than win by cheating.
16. Honest assessment is an essential requirement of effective leadership….The problem is that the higher up the ladder you go, the less likely it is that you will receive complete and accurate information.
17. When it comes to the great-souled individual, personal honor, not ego, is the ultimate priority and concern.
18. Leaders should never assume that the information they receive is unsoiled by hidden agendas or political agendas.
19. There is no greater evil than discord and faction and no greater good than the bonds of communal sentiment.
20. The character of an organization’s leadership determines a company’s destiny.
