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When confronted with a problem, or better yet, before it becomes a problem, leadership consultants Bob Anderson and Bill Adams recommend organizational leaders first turn inward to drive lasting change.

Have you ever seen someone solve a Rubik’s cube in less than 40 seconds? It’s mesmerizing. Turn. Twist. Turn again. Rotate. Align. Spin. The action goes by so fast, it’s almost dizzying.

How do people get so good at solving those little cubes? It’s not just the principle of “practice makes perfect.” The most avid Rubik’s cube solvers will tell you that they got really good once they understood the mathematical principles of the cube. They know how many rotations are needed to align certain blocks. They understand that the middle block never moves. They count their turns to ensure they’re turning in correct steps. In short, they know exactly how the cube functions, and how to make it work.

The best leaders do almost the same thing. They understand the personality and dynamics of their team. They take the time to get to know individuals and learn their skills and strengths. And then, they use their time-tested strategies—the five phrases below—again and again, to lead the team past any obstacle and empower them to create great work in every situation. In fact, the best leaders use these five phrases repetitively because they are so successful. What are the five signature repetitive phrases of virtuoso leaders, and the one thing they’ll never say? Read on to find out.

Good leaders can steer a business through the nine to five, but great leaders can navigate a company into the next generation.

While a good leader is content with the status quo, a truly great leader has the ability to innovate and disrupt to ensure organisations stay on the cutting edge. They go above and beyond the duty of a manager to inspire staff and build a motivated workplace.

Stepping up from a good to a great leader could make a huge difference to the direction of a business and it's possible with some simple, but effective practices.

Recently I helped a client get ready for an intense conversation with his team. There'd been some big stuff happening in their division, not all of it great. He had a "state of the union" to deliver as well as some requests. His concern was that if he didn't handle it well, he'd create a mess, not have any clean next steps, waste time, and ultimately demoralize the team. He was nervous.

My good friend was having a challenge with her son. There'd been tension for a while and she sensed he'd been dishonest with her. They needed a heart to heart. Her concern was that if she didn't handle it well, she'd create a mess, alienate him, and create even more resistance between them moving forward.

In another land, my colleague's team was rockin' it and he wanted to do something awesome for them. His concern was he wouldn't honor them well enough.

I today am wrapping up a move, throwing my daughter a birthday party, working with clients, and writing to you. I want to make sure that I'm productive AND that everyone feels honored and seen.

Four scenarios -- I'll bet you can plug yourself into at least 3 of them, if not all.

So what to do?

It's so simple. Happy Monday.

"Power is a subject that makes many people extremely uncomfortable," Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer argues, but just because we don't like to think about power doesn't mean it's not the lifeblood of business. "Power is in fact all around...like air and water and gravity," he insists.

Ignoring power, therefore, won't make it disappear any more than wishing away gravity will help you fly. Instead of sticking your head in the sand, Pfeffer suggests you get real and start thinking constructively about accumulating power. How can you do that? In the video he offers a handful of actionable (if not necessarily universally palatable) tips.

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No matter how much the world changes, there will be timeless truths about the best way to lead others to success.

Self-made industrialist Andrew Carnegie was the wealthiest man on the planet in the early 20th century and was a student of what it takes to achieve greatness. In 1908, he met with the journalist Napoleon Hill and decided that Hill would be the vehicle for sharing his strategies with the world. Take a look at the summary.

Welcome to the 2014 Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor (KLCM), exploring the perceptions of over 6,500 people in 13 countries on five continents regarding effective leadership, effective communication and the intrinsic link between the two.

The third annual KLCM survey shows clearly that a global leadership “crisis” stubbornly persists, as consumers continue to be disillusioned with their leaders. Looking at leaders in business, government, community service, trade/labor unions and the not-for-profit sector, only 22 percent of those surveyed feel leaders are demonstrating effective leadership – down from last year – and even fewer than that are optimistic about seeing any improvement in leadership over the coming year.

The research also finds that open, transparent communication is absolutely critical to effective leadership. It is again the top-ranking attribute, with 74 percent viewing effective communication as very important to great leadership. Yet only 29 percent feel leaders communicate effectively. This gap between expectation and delivery has substantial commercial implications. Indeed, a clear majority of respondents boycotted or bought less from a company during the past 12 months due to poor leadership. Far fewer started buying or purchased more as a result of positive leadership perceptions.

A retired Scottish footballer and a Silicon Valley venture capitalist don’t seem like the likeliest of friends and collaborators. But Alex Ferguson, the long-time manager of the ultra-successful Manchester United team, and Michael Moritz, the chairman of Sequoia Capital, have more in common than you might suspect.

Ferguson, whose team won 38 trophies in the 27 years he coached, and Moritz, an early investor in Google, Yahoo, and Airbnb, have both thought long and hard about the art of management. Together they’ve written a book on the art of management — Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United — that distills the lessons in leadership Ferguson learned while heading the world’s most successful sports franchise.

Although a lot of people are reminded to be thankful on Thanksgiving, gratitude shouldn't be reserved for special occasions. Showing just a little appreciation for what you have could greatly improve your life year-round. Here are nine powerful ways gratitude can change your life:

After writing my last column, an overview of the very disheartening book called Leadership BS, I practically had to wipe my tears off of my keyboard. The book’s author, Jeffrey Pfeffer, presents research to demonstrate that the business environment encourages aberrant leadership behaviors — selfishness, immodesty, lying, and so on — in spite of their negative impact. And, during my interview with Pfeffer, he squelched my dream of a conscious capitalist utopia when he stated his belief that companies routinely named the best places to work because of their open, honest, and transparent environments will continue to be the exception rather than the rule. “Leaders will trade off money and performance for ego, power, and control” time and time again, he told me.

But now that I’ve had some time to get over the shock of having my hopes dashed so summarily, my tears have dried. And, upon reflection, I have to respectfully disagree. In the fight for talent, the current dismal state of employee engagement is no longer tenable. Furthermore, there are too many “best of” exemplars of companies that are doing things right and turning a profit at the same time for firms and leaders to rationalize their bad behavior as “just business.” I believe we can, want, and must to do better.

Being a leader is hard. Some people put themselves in a leadership role and others are there by accident or even default. It's unreasonable to expect that all leaders are naturally born. They need support and tools to be successful and bring others along.

My Inc. colleagues and I have seen lots of leaders in action. Some leaders are are just getting by, but others are amazing. We have witnessed several common tools these amazing leaders use to get performance from their teams. Here are some we have seen that work consistently.

We talk about happiness as if it were a thing to be discovered and acquired.

But happiness can never be found externally. It is not a possession to be acquired or a set of conditions, but a state of mind.

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything, but they have learned to make the best of whatever they have.

The happiest leaders aren't necessarily focused on success or failure but live by a different perspective--and that outlook makes all the difference.

Here's how they live.

A glance at today’s headlines leaves little doubt that we have entered a new era of geopolitical turbulence. Acts of terror and violence, humanitarian crises, and public health emergencies are rarely localized events. Instead, these shocks transcend borders, presenting global challenges. Just as one crisis fades, another rises to take its place. Adding further complexity, today’s enemy (unlike in that previous period of great geopolitical uncertainty, the Cold War) is often unseen or unknown.

What stands in the way of our being more satisfied and productive at work? That’s the fundamental question we sought to answer in a survey we conducted with HBR last fall. More than 19,000 people, at all levels in companies, across a broad range of industries, have so far responded to the questions we posed.

What we discovered is that people feel better and perform better and more sustainably when four basic needs are met: renewal (physical); value (emotional), focus (mental) and purpose (spiritual).

Daniel Goleman, in his article “Leadership That Gets Results”, has identified six different leadership styles, and he believes that good leaders will adopt one of these six styles to meet the needs of different situations.

None of the six leadership styles by Daniel Goleman are right or wrong – each may be appropriate depending on the specific context. Whilst one of the more empathetic styles is most likely to be needed to build long-term commitment, there will be occasions when a commanding style may need to be called upon, for example, when a rapid and decisive response is required.