Bennis discusses leaders with four strategic qualities.

Written in the mid 1980s, this was a breakthrough book on leadership, and it’s teachings endure. Drawn from encounters and interviews with some of the top leaders of our time, the authors speak eloquently about the factors that differentiate great leaders from the rest of the pack. In their book, they defined four critical leadership strategies:

Strategy 1: Attention through vision
Strategy 2: Meaning through communication
Strategy 3: Trust through positioning
Strategy 4: The deployment of self

I was particularly fascinated with the story of Karl Wallenda who was a famous tight-rope walker who defied the odds through positive imaging. The one time he focus on his fear and thought about failure was the one time he plunged to his death. The story spoke volumes of the importance of keeping our focus on the vision.