My operations leader and I were standing in the parking lot after a meeting discussing a couple of issues when he asked, "What would you say are three secrets to good leadership."

I thought for a moment before giving an answer. I have a fairly lengthy list of things that I think are essential for leadership success. The list has been built over the years through observation of others as well as my own experience, but I'd never tried to boil it all down to just a few points. I've considered that question through the intervening years and the following three points always seem to be at the root of everything I teach and counsel about leadership. Is this oversimplified? Perhaps, but a leader who understands and embraces these three points will be successful.

1. Leaders have a vision - at all levels. Whether a first-level manager or a corporate CEO, I've observed that the most successful leaders have a vision of what can be. That vision drives them and, when properly expressed, provides motivation for subordinates. People are more likely to be loyal to leaders who know where they're going and have a big dream of what can be. Even at the lowest levels of leadership, that vision can make the difference between a leader who is adequate, and one who is dynamite!

2. People make leaders successful. Leaders may have the vision, see the bigger picture, and have the larger investment or the most experience in some aspect of the organization. But, leaders cannot make good things happen without people. It's the subordinates, the ones who are led, who make leaders successful. All my discussions about learning people's needs, what motivates them, their needs, and their desire to win is based on this fact.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in 1890 into a poor family in Denison, Texas. Two years later his father moved them to Abilene, Kansas where Dwight grew up. After graduation from high school, "Ike" as he was called went to work in a local creamery as a night foreman for two years; then Ike applied for and was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. Although he was an average student, he excelled in sports, particularly football. It was at West Point where he learned the fundamentals of leadership and graduated with the Class of 1915. This was known as the class that the "stars" fell upon since 59 of its members including Ike would become generals. Eisenhower would later rise to the rank of five-star general and lead the Allies to victory in Europe. After World War II, he served as Chief of Staff of the US Army, the first commander of NATO, president of Columbia University, and later was elected as the 34th President of the United States. Here are just a few lessons that we can learn from his life of leadership:

Study your craft: Eisenhower was an early student of the craft of leadership which began even before he went to West Point, but it was there that he really learned the fundamentals. Like every other cadet at the time, he endured his first year while being "hazed" as was the tradition. As he began his second year, he realized that he did not want to harass the new cadets since this was not the way to lead young men; instead, he devoted his time to football and was a star player on the varsity team until he was injured. After graduation, Eisenhower began his career that took him through a series of assignments where he could study and learn the craft of leadership. These assignments included training troops for World War I; working for General Fox Conner, a respected senior leader who became a mentor to Eisenhower, and attending the army's Command and General Staff Officer School at Ft. Leavenworth where he graduated first in his class. Later assignments included working for General MacArthur both in Washington when MacArthur was the Chief of Staff and in the Philippines where MacArthur was training the Philippine Army to prepare for war. Finally, at the beginning of World War II, when Eisenhower was still only a colonel, he was recognized and promoted by General Marshall to staff assignments at the War Department and later to command Allied forces in Europe as the Supreme Commander. In each of these assignments he gained valuable insights as a leader and as a professional soldier - a lifetime of studying the art of leadership.

Theories surrounding the workings of the human brain are based on a belief that the brain's basic operation hasn't evolved much from the time of our early ancestors who were much more concerned with the very real excitement of basic survival than such mundane pursuits as corporate success. These theories are supported by extensive research using enormously complex devices that can measure the smallest chemical reactions within the brain.

From that understanding of how the brain works, and considerable personal experience, Eric Haseltine has developed interpretations of these primal responses and in Long Fuse, Big Bang: Achieving Long-Term Success Through Daily Victories, he presents a slate of techniques which will help the modern executive, leader, or even salesman understand and effectively utilize these inborn tendencies. The human brain seems to be wired to conserve energy, respond quickly to perceived threats, and seize current certainties over the future possibilities. By understanding these deeply ingrained tendencies, one can achieve greater success when working with other people.

Haseltine uses numerous stories, many from his own experience in the U.S. intelligence community, Disney, and other places to illustrate his points. The long fuse refers to taking a long-term look at what can be and setting a series of actions in motion that will produce a big bang in the long run. His examples show how the technique of using small, incremental steps over time produces a big result. Unfortunately, as Haseltine himself points out, a short fuse, small bang approach tends to be much more common as governments and companies are hesitant, or even unable, to take the longer view rather than the quick, need it now approach.

Do you see value in team building exercises?

I'm a big fan of proper team building techniques, but I've found most team building exercises to be ineffective and even silly. Most of these games (let's call them what they are) don't get to the heart of the real issue in team building. Most of the time, the team will be made of people with different thoughts, experiences, and even personal goals. The team leader's job is to bring a disparate group like that together to a productive end. The way to do that is to ensure everyone understands the mission and goals of the team; make sure all team members are encouraged to be contributors and the value of their contribution is realized; and understand that conflict and disagreement, when properly managed, can make the team produce a better result. One other thing that's vital to team building is the understanding that no matter how many games the team plays, not everyone will always like each other and be friends. That's okay! In fact it's even healthy.

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