To do this, leaders must build organizations that help employees strengthen their competence, creativity, and commitment. Leaders must create healthy environments where people are excited about their work, take pride in their accomplishments, and contribute to their colleagues doing the same. Their task, in short, is to foment ideas, skills, and energy. This is leading people. In studying and working with these kinds of leaders, I've come to recognize eight principles that run through all their stories, eight strands that, when woven together, form wisdom in action.
Leaders see the whole picture and articulate that broad perspective with others.
By doing so, leaders create a common purpose that mobilizes people and coordinates their efforts into a single, coherent, agile enterprise. Without trust, vision becomes an empty slogan. Trust binds people together, creating a strong, resilient organization. To build trust, leaders are predictable, and they share information and power. Their goal is a culture of candor.