LEADERS

1.Leaders are both confident and modest.
Sure, you need a healthy ego to lead - but you also need to be strong
enough to check it at the door. Being a leader is not about making
yourself more powerful. It's about making the people around you more
powerful

2.Leaders are authentic.
You earn the trust and respect of the people you work with when you know who you are - and when you walk your talk. Who believes in leaders who don't believe in themselves?

3.Leaders are listeners.
And great listening is fueled by curiosity. It's hard to be a great listener if you're not curious about other people. What's the enemy of curiosity?Grandiosity - the belief that you have all the answers.

4.Leaders are good at giving encouragement, and they are never satisfied.
Leaders are always raising the stakes of the game for themselves and for
their people. That means that they're always testing and building both courage and stamina throughout the organization.

5.Leaders make unexpected connections.
They organize and lead conversations among people who don't normally interact with each other, and they see the kinds of patterns that allow for small innovations and breakthrough ideas.

6.Leaders provide direction.
But that's different from providing answers. No single leader is smart enough to know everything about where markets are going, how technology is changing, what competitors are plotting. But smart leaders do know how to pose revealing questions. Important reminder: You're not in control, and you're not really in charge - but you are in touch, and you are out front.

7.Leaders protect their people from danger - and expose them to reality.
The dirty little secret of life in organizations: Most people want leaders to insulate them from change, rather than mobilize them to face it. That's why leadership is so dangerous.

8.Leaders make change - and stand for values that don't change.
One job of a leader is to help people identify what habits and assumptions must be changed for the company to prosper - and to ask, "Which values and operations are so central to our core that if we lose them, we lose
ourselves?"

9.Leaders lead by example.
They use small gestures to send big messages. Leaders have a fundamental obligation to live their lives according to the principles they espouse. Remember: You are always under a microscope.

10.Leaders don't blame - they learn.
Even the smartest businesspeople around make mistakes. Remember when Bill Gates decided that the Internet wouldn't have a big impact on Microsoft's business? These days, the right mind-set is an experimental mind-set: Try, fail, learn, and try again.

11.Leaders look for and network with other leaders.
Want to make yourself even more effective as a leader? Want to heighten your influence and deepen your impact? Stop playing the role of the Lone Ranger! Look for allies, network with like-minded colleagues - and help those people to become better leaders. Remember: It's lonely at the top only if you place yourself on a pedestal.

12.The job of the leader: Make more leaders.
After you use this kit to make yourself a leader, look around your organization. Do you see enough leaders at all levels to keep your company changing and charging into the future? Remember: The team with the most
and best leaders wins! Your ultimate task is not just to be a leader - it's to make more leaders.