As seen in many of the above examples, leadership can be both a comfortable and an uncomfortable position. In his book, Bill Arnold often talks about both his own self doubt, as well as his joy when a new concept is finally achieved. Lod Cook's willingness to break the tradition, to resolve a difficult situation at ARCO, resulted in an important advancement for the oil industry as a whole, not just for ARCO.

"We must either find a way, or make one."
Hannible

The insightfulness of leaders and their willingness to take risks can be seen in many fields. For example, Bethlehem Steel has shrunk to a tenth of its former size, while the distinctly different approach of Nucor and other minimills is performing very well in the global market. Although NUMMI was created fifteen years ago, GM is still having problems making world class cars in the United States, but Honda and Toyota don't. An important point is, these difficulties and insights are not restricted to manufactur­ing. The impacts of leadership cross all boundaries.

In sports, Pat Riley tells of the outstanding players that made up the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980's, but without direction and leadership they made only an ordinary team. Examples of other industries show the same results. In retail sales, Sears has been losing market share for years, but mention Wal-Mart and we strike fear in the hearts of its competitors.

Even insurance providers and credit companies are not immune to the benefits of good leadership. Progressive insurance has been earning outstanding returns while other companies are having trouble surviving. The drastic changes at IBM Credit must also be noted. Their improve­ment of the credit approval cycle from fifteen days to four hours required much more than a desire to do better.
A leader can talk about the importance of people, but without action little is accomplished. Someone once said: "No matter how much you improve the cross bow you will never invent the rifle. Sometimes we need to take a different path". Leaders understand it is this new path that will often come from others within their organizations. Leaders are willing to take the risks that allow these things to happen. Emperor Valentinian needed a new approach when he asked Pope Leo to talk with Attila. This tact saved Rome,from what appeared to be sure destruction.

"A manager does things right....a leader does the right thing."
Peter Drucker

General Motors and the UAW needed a different answer to their labor management problems, and NUMMI provided a positive solution for both sides. Bill Arnold transformed the Centennial Medical Center from a money-making organization to one of the flagship medical centers in the United States. This was done not by the direction of a superior individual but by the hard work of all Centennial's employees. Lodwick Cook needed a new direction in 1989 at ARCO and he got it from his engineering group. A group of individuals who were willing to share their work with others for the improvement of nothing less than the na­tional environment.

Dr. Michael Hammer in his new book Reengineering the Corporation says there are three types of companies that undertake reengineering. The first, are in deep trouble and have no choice, the second are those that see trouble coming and hope to avoid it, and the third are those that are still in peak condition and wish to stay ahead of the crowd. The suggestion here is that the real leaders all come from the second and particularly the third group of companies above. Although insight after the fact is important, it can never replace action before the problems hit.

And Attila, this "Scourge of the Earth," this villain of villains and most beloved of heroes, this man, who at once is both good and evil, perhaps it is he that best shows us the importance of leadership. As stated above, his leadership took a multiracial, multilingual group of tribes, using stone weapons and wearing animal skins, and developed them into a force that had successfully challenged the very core of world civilization in his day. Yet, on the eve of conquest, and after a conversation with only one other man, he was able to turn his army away from Rome and return to a more peaceful existence in his homeland. It is he that shows us that leadership is not a job we go to daily or a position we hold, leadership is a way of life.