Greetings! Listening to the news late last night, and to President Obama address the nation, I could not help but feel a deep sense of pride, appreciation and gratitude - and a feeling of justice done. 
But this was just a small degree of satisfaction given the horrors of September 11, 2001 and the memories burned into my memory; as acrid as the smoke I still remember filling the air in New York City for weeks to follow and as bitter as the pain of the loss of my friends and neighbors who were among those who perished that day in the World Trade Towers. I am still deeply touched by the scores of neighbors, the local heroes I know who selflessly and tirelessly worked the rescue and then recovery efforts along with men and women from all around the country. I don't think we, or America truly recovered from that day, and the news of Osama bin Laden's demise seemed to be more of a reminder than a sense of closure or relief. My 17 year-old son thoughtfully wondered and perhaps worried last night if whether we had just awoken a sleeping bear. Evil continues to exist in the world, but so do our resiliency, courage and commitment to seek out and destroy evil wherever it hides. We can all feel intensely proud and grateful for the prowess of our soldiers, our intelligence community and the unyielding dedication of the United States to stand for and preserve justice and dignity in the world. Extraordinary events like yesterday's, underscore some important truths about both leadership and success, and are lessons for leaders of any kind of organization. We can cite some key qualities of leadership in what finally made the long stated mission of bringing bin Laden to justice a reality: - Perseverance
- Communication
- Courage
- Intelligence
- Collaboration, and
- Clarity of Purpose.
Importantly, it was quality of leadership throughout the organization(s) that ultimately realized success. It could never happen with a single leader at the top and the remainder of the organization "managing" for the outcome. In fact the same qualities of leadership needed to exist from the very top to the soldiers on the ground in order to have succeeded. Leadership is often as much about following the direction of others as it is taking the lead when necessary. Success is the other dimension to the story. The hunt for bin Laden has been often cited as a failure. It has gone on for nearly ten years since the 9/11 attacks, frustrating the worldwide intelligence community and mocking at the power of the great nations of the world. Failures in capturing him go all the way back to the 1998 to the bombing of two US embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six. It is often noted that what is recognized as success in the end, is often the result of a string of failures along the way. It's the Thomas Edison story failing 10,000 times and proclaiming instead that he had merely discovered 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb. The lesson is that most people overestimate what they can expect in a short period of time - and then underestimate what can be achieved through a sustained effort. Success is arguably the objective of all leadership. Yet not all great leaders succeed at what they set out to achieve, and not all success can be credited to a single leader's efforts. I think it all comes down to Gladwell's quote, above, that none of us really ever make it alone. It is also clear that success is even more rarely achieved overnight. Thomas Edison also once said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." You may also find interesting the NY Times review of "The Corner Office - Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons From CEOs on How to how to Lead and Succeed" by Adam Bryant: http://tinyurl.com/NYTimes-The-Corner-Office Think about the leadership in your organization. Does it live from bottom to top? And think about what success looks like to you. Is your vision durable enough to sustain failure and still remain strong? This weeks edition of Monday Morning CEO also suggests a book that offers some valuable insight about the structure of leadership in organizations that might surprise you. You will want to read about a workforce trend you need to know about and what you need to know if you are a small business looking to borrow capital. As always, wishing you a great and successful week ahead. 
Philip R. Liebman Managing Director, Strat 4 Group Chair, Vistage International | 
