Take the emotional temperature of those listening to you. Facial expressions, voice inflection and posture give clues to a person's mood and attitude.

Leadership is evoking in others the capacity to dream.

Persuasive communication involves enthusiasm, animation, audience participation, authenticity and spontaneity.

Great communication depends on two simple skills-context, which attunes a leader to the same frequency as his or her audience, and delivery, which allows a leader to phrase messages in a language the audience can understand.

The more credible you are, the more confidence people place in you, thereby allowing you the privilege of influencing their lives.

42% of college graduates never read a book after college.

It's lonely at the top, so you better know why you are there.

Over time, is it easier or harder to sustain your influence within your organization? With charisma alone, influence becomes increasingly more difficult to sustain. With character, as time passes, influence builds and requires less work to sustain.

Leadership is not a right-it is a responsibility.