pointing him the problems inthe way we were working and it ultimately resulted in a reorganization, inwhich I became an internal consultant. The President, my grandfather, was a genuineleader; he was passionateabout the business and the people involved in its activities. But for him, andI agree, the fact of being relative does not qualify anyone to be a goodleader. Of course my grandfather gave me the opportunity to do something bigger,however my passion and attitude undoubtedly were decisive to start my career asa leader. In fact, passion motivates self-expression,providing a deep foundation in values (Bass and Riggio 2006). Naturally Ibecome more and more involved in my familys business.According toDubrin (2010) some personal traits of effective leaders are closely associatedwith task accomplishment such as passion for the work and the people, emotionalintelligence, flexibility and adaptability, internal locus of control, andcourage. My grandfather recognized my leadershipqualities when I acted as an adaptive leader, setting strategies on both thecustomers needs and the strengths of the company, attempting to bring all ofthe different parts and people of the organization together to work towards acommon goal (Obolensky 2010).The beginning of my careerwas extremely difficult, yet significant in shaping my views of leadership. Itwas a period of a deep self-searching as I left a middle manager position to bepart of the board of directors of the company that my grandfather built. I didnot see that as a boom in my career, but a big change of my responsibilities tothe future of our family. Indeed, this was a period of deep reflection on mysense of identity, personal integrity and my values; a period when I startedunderstanding that leadership involves formulating an exciting vision to directan organization, dealing with change, inspiration, motivation and influence(Dubrin (2010).In fact, there are many definitions forleadership, which is largely about inspiring confidence and supporting peoplethrough the achievement of common goals. But one of my favorite comes from SunTzu in the Art of War: The way [of leadership] means inducing the people tohave the same aim as the leadership, so that they will share death and sharelife, without fear of danger (Tzu, 2005, p.43). For Sun Tzu, leadership is astrategy that stimulates relationships that involve a shared vision andcollaborative actions that transcend personal self-interest, where follower andleader are connected and prepared to both enjoying benefits and taking risks.I interpretthis merging as the beginning of my generation in the company, in which leadershipwas seeing as a strategy, recognizing the importance of relationships toconstantly adjust and synchronize every component of the organizationsinternal and external environment (Hollenbeck and Hall 2004). Tozer (2012,p.96) argues that leaders need to be good at system thinking, which is theability to analyze activities, moving forwards and backwards along the chain ofcause and effect, in order to identify and understand systems. Additionally, myreadings about systems thinking and human communications led me to adopt theprinciple that more flexibility means more power to exercise influence on thesystem (Senge et al. 1999). The idea reinforced the importance of self-command,suggesting that the person who has the greatest command on their own behaviourand attitudes is able to exercise the most