10 things the greatest leaders all have in common

Zenger found that if employees rated a manager as very high on "focus on results" (that is, one's ability to get things done effectively), there was only a small (14 percent) chance that the manager would be rated among the top 10 percent of leaders overall. However, if in addition to "focus on results," employees also rated the manager's ability to "build relationships" very highly, then the likelihood of that person's being rated as a great leader overall skyrocketed to 72 percent. [Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect]

… the core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people, and behavior change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people's feelings. [Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard]

… crew members expected leaders to make decisions regarding emergency matters as quickly and autocratically as necessary under the circumstances. [Bold Endeavors: Lessons from Polar and Space Exploration]

The task is not to breed generalists. It is to enable the specialist to make himself and his specialty effective. This means that he must think through who is to use his output and what the user needs to know and to understand to be able to make productive the fragment the specialist produces… We can so structure as to make the strength relevant. A good tax accountant in private practice might be greatly hampered by his inability to get along with people. But in an organization such a man can be set up in an office of his own and shielded from direct contact with other people. In an organization one can make his strength effective and his weakness irrelevant. [The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done]

Gautam: Over time, it's grandiosity.

Eric: Hubris?

Gautam: Yeah. You live in an environment where everybody constantly tells you how great you are, and you begin to believe it.

Eric: Yeah. Even Machiavelli said a leader needs people who are going to be honest with them, because everybody's going to kiss their ass.

Gautam: Exactly… The CEO of a major corporation, how often does he or she hear the word "no"? How often does someone challenge their basic preconceptions about the world?

If you don't articulate a culture — or articulate one but don't enforce it — then a culture is still going to emerge. However, it is going to be based on the processes and priorities that have been repeated within the organization and have worked. You can tell the health of a company's culture by asking, "When faced with a choice on how to do something, did employees make the decision that the culture 'wanted' them to make? And was the feedback they received consistent with that?" [How Will You Measure Your Life?]

Management controls people by pushing them in the right direction; leadership motivates them by satisfying basic human needs. [John P. Kotter on What Leaders Really Do]

One company leader, socially was a buffoon and tactically he was a buffoon. But, he knew he was a buffoon… When we got to our site, he said to me, "You've got the training to protect this site. I don't. Protect this site." That's all he had to say.

That taught me a very valuable lesson: "It's okay not to know something." There are people around you who do know something, and they can teach you. If it's too grand a knowledge base to pick up right there, put them in charge. Have them report to you. Put the responsibility on them. If you do that, they will execute that to perfection, and I did.

When first introduced to a leader, we immediately and unconsciously assess him or her for warmth and authority. Obviously the most appealing leaders are seen to encompass both qualities, and the least effective leaders are those we regard as cold and inept. [The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help–or Hurt–How You Lead]

Adam Grant, a scholar in the field of organizational behavior, realized that workers often fail to live up to their potential because they've lost track of the significance and meaningfulness of their own jobs. He figured that if he could remind employees of why their jobs are important, they might become more highly motivated, and therefore, more productive individuals. [Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive]

People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it… Start with "Why." [Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action]