I cannot tell you how panicked I felt after I had written the initial draft of the first third of Master Leaders. The body of wisdom from which I was drawing was, in my view, unparalleled. Maybe that placed more pressure on me than usual. All I knew was that the manuscript was cleanly written, provided an accurate representation of the things I had learned from the thirty insightful leaders whom I had interviewed – and that the manuscript was painfully boring.

How does God intrude in your reality? With me, He seems to enjoy allowing me to dig a very deep ditch that I am incapable of climbing out of on my own strength. That invariably enables Him to show His creativity, power, and love as He comes to my rescue. That’s exactly what He did – again – in the course of my developing this book. I had taken a pedestrian approach, crafting a chapter by chapter recitation of what my world-class leadership interviewees had shared. There was nothing wrong with the material itself, but the presentation was limp.

And that’s when God planted a wonderful creative idea in my brain: string all the like comments together, creating a virtual conversation. At first, the idea seemed a bit absurd, but when I began testing the concept, it flowed a lot better than I expected. After I’d spent the two weeks writing the book, nobody could have been more pleasantly surprised with the aggregate result than me. The product not only delivered a substantial amount of wisdom about leadership, but it was provided in a relatively smooth and playful way.

Beyond the format, the experience of speaking with 30 great leaders and leader developers was deeply enlightening for me. The joy wasn’t always the information they imparted; sometimes it was what I observed them doing that modeled the principles they championed. For instance, some of the most important personal lessons in leadership were:

• Great leaders motivate people by seeing and retelling compelling stories that relate to the vision to which they are committed
• A leader rarely changes a person; he/she simply figures out how to get the best results out of who they are, and who to team them with for the greatest productivity
• Leadership analysts tend to focus on how leaders articulate their ideas; yet leaders more often succeed because of how effectively they listen than because of their speaking prowess
• The world is increasingly complex and challenging: leaders help make sense of the world, often by reducing the complicated and misleading to a simpler, logical understanding
• Individuals who are popular pander to public opinion; genuine leaders expect to become unpopular, choosing to do what’s right and necessary rather than what’s expected and safe
• The probability of success increases if the focus is on the outcomes rather than who gets credit for those results
• If you are not clear about your vision and values, and passionate about the corresponding convictions and goals, success is not likely
• No leader is the “complete package.” There will be times when the chief leader must allow other leaders to provide direction under given circumstances to compensate for the chief leader’s weaknesses
• Leadership is a collaborative process; it’s less about what the leader does than about what he/she facilitates through others
• Great leaders recognize that all people have great worth; the leader’s task is to maximize their delivery of the unique value each person brings to the party
• Leaders get what they measure and what they tolerate
• All great leaders believe they have a moral responsibility to take care of people
• Do not attempt to lead people unless you are prepared to pay a significant emotional, physical and spiritual price

As my mentors taught me, part of learning is applying the information gleaned, so that’s the daunting task before me now. But how much better off I am today than before this process began; now I have a clearer understanding of what it takes to get to the next level.

I hope you take some time to read this book, and that you both enjoy and feel challenged by it. The men and women featured in it “get it” and they went to great lengths to share it with you. Seriously ponder the lessons they offer. I think you’ll find it well worth the effort.