John Mattone's 20 Laws of Intelligent Leadership

1. Law #1 Align yourself with people of extraordinary character and competence.
2. Law #2 It is the disciplined pursuit of less that will give you more.
3. Law #3 Have the guts to look inside and admit that while you may be good, you are not the best you can be.
4. Law #4 Go forward every day committed to worthy achievement, being altruistic, and building rewarding relationships with the people in your life.
5. Law #5 The key to unlocking your massive potential is making the decision to be vulnerable.
6. Law #6 You have the choice to either accept or reject feedback; however, if you reject feedback you also reject the choice of acting in a way that may very well bring you abundant success and happiness.
7. Law #7 Great leaders commit to becoming more capable, committed, and connected today than they were yesterday.
8. Law #8 Success has nothing to do with money, titles, and possessions; success is only about committing—every day—to becoming the absolute best you can be.
9. Law #9 The most powerful leadership truth is that failure almost always precedes success, yet the most powerful leadership irony is that success is often the first step to failure.
10. Law #10 Great leaders engage in quiet, daily reflection: “Did I bring extraordinary value to my family, my team, and my organization?” And then they make the commitment to bring even more value tomorrow.
11. Law #11 If you want others to be happy be courteous, compassionate, and altruistic. If you want to be happy be courteous, compassionate, and altruistic.
12. Law #12 Your presence is determined by your reputation; your reputation can spiral up or down based on your “wow” factor—do you fall short or just meet people's expectations or, do you “wow” the people in your life?
13. Law #13 Nobody sees your inner core except you, if you choose to see it. If you do choose to see it, however, this becomes the key to unlocking your true greatness.
14. Law #14 The health and vibrancy of your inner core predicts the health and vibrancy of your outer core, which is what the world sees.
15. Law #15 Character won't determine your destiny; it will determine your ultimate destiny.
16. Law #16 The best predictor of your future is not past performance; it is the combination of your past, your willingness to accept your gifts and deficiencies, your willingness to commit to a plan in which you leverage your gifts and address your deficiencies, your willingness to execute your plan, your willingness to be vigilant to the results you achieve, and most importantly your willingness to course correct continuously.
17. Law #17 It's not about the organization you want to create; it's about the organization you must create.
18. Law #18 Positive transformation ignites when the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom is more painful than the ideology of different.
19. Law #19 Culture transforms when people transform. Results transform when behavior transforms. Behavior transforms when mind-sets transform.
20. Law #20 As in medicine, in the world of corporate reinvention and renewal, prescription before diagnosis is malpractice.