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While it can be difficult to become a great leader and to achieve great things, practicing great leadership is actually quite easy. There is a tendency to overcomplicate or overthink what leadership is, but actually, leadership can be very simple. I have worked with teams all over the world, from dozens of cultures, and from different generations, Baby Boomers to Millennials, and I have found that if you provide these four simple things your team will appreciate you, follow you, and achieve great results.

You call a meeting--everyone groans and trudges to the conference room, already absorbed in their smart phones. Wouldn't a creative and engaging meeting be a nice change? Will that happen?

Probably not--poor communication runs rampant in meetings. But a talented communicator can fix all of the pitfalls of the typical meeting.

A Harvard Business Review study "found patterns of communication to be the most important predictor of a team's success." And what better way to communicate than using the tools of the best communicators around: TED speakers?

Bring the energy and effectiveness of TED into your company's discussions. Leave the useless and dreaded meeting structure behind. Captivate your employees and have them invested in what you're discussing.

Can you imagine working for someone in a high-level leadership role, perhaps a CEO, and suddenly it dawns on you: This person isn't leadership caliber.

Your next thought may be, How in the world did he (or she) make it this far up the ladder?

It's a fair question. People are promoted into leadership roles every day who have no business belonging there.

Sometimes it's political; other times it's the easier choice--promote from within and avoid the high cost of recruitment--but a bad choice, nonetheless.

The biggest challenge leaders face is performing to the set standards of the best in the business. This means raising the bar really high--as the ten hugely successful CEOs I wrote about recently have done.

In the end, you'll find the leadership journey is predicated on two things that drive success: Results and relationships. You can't have results at the expense of people. And serving your tribe well without getting results is merely putting lipstick on a pig.

Are you one of the never satisfied strivers?

The type of person who, despite having some obvious successes in life--a solid career, a modicum of financial security, the respect of your peers--just never feels like you've quite made it?

Are you always a little worried you could be accomplishing more?

If so, you probably feel kind of crummy sometimes compared to your more easily contented competitors, but according to new research out of Stanford, all your ambition has a serious upside (hat tip to Science of Us for the pointer).

Perpetually feeling like you're a bit unsuccessful, it turns out, is a pretty good sign you're going to go on to achieve even greater things.

Perhaps you spend the last 10 minutes of your workday staring at the clock, counting down the seconds until you’re free. Or, maybe you bury yourself in your work until the very last minute — then you grab your stuff and go without saying goodbye to your colleagues.

If either of the above scenarios sounds familiar, it may be time to reassess your end-of-day routine. “How you finish the workday is very important,” says Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of “The Humour Advantage.” “It can set your mood for the rest of your day; it may impact your personal relationships, overall level of happiness, and how well you sleep that night; and it will set the stage for the next day.”

If you are part of a team and participate in video meetings, it’s important to dress the part, says Donovan.

Does it ever seem like some people you know are advancing rapidly in their careers or businesses, while you seem to be just plodding along? Chances are you're not doing one simple thing that can make all the difference to achieving your goals. You're not putting yourself first.

In the personal finance world, experts often advise people to "pay yourself first." The idea is that when a paycheck or other payment comes in the first thing you should so is put a portion of it into your savings and only then pay your bills and other financial obligations.

Most of us, of course, instinctively do the opposite. We first pay our bills and then put money into savings if there's any left over. The problem, of course, is that there very rarely is any money left over. So our bills get paid, but we never manage to save much, making it impossible to reach our financial goals. This is why 401(k) programs are so powerful: They literally force you to pay yourself first by putting money into savings before you can pay anyone else.

One of the biggest roadblocks to success is the fear of failure. Fear of failure is worse than failure itself because it condemns you to a life of unrealized potential.

A successful response to failure is all in your approach. In a study recently published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, researchers found that success in the face of failure comes from focusing on results (what you hope to achieve), rather than trying not to fail. While it’s tempting to try and avoid failure, people who do this fail far more often than those who optimistically focus on their goals.

This sounds rather easy and intuitive, but it’s very hard to do when the consequences of failure are severe. The researchers also found that positive feedback increased people’s chances of success because it fueled the same optimism you experience when focusing solely on your goals.

Your boss proposes a new initiative you think won’t work. Your senior colleague outlines a project timeline you think is unrealistic. What do you say when you disagree with someone who has more power than you do? How do you decide whether it’s worth speaking up? And if you do, what exactly should you say?

Great business leaders should always seek out ways to work smarter, not harder. Efficiency is incredibly important, especially when time is money. Hard work is draining and long hours keep you away from your family and social life. It's important to keep a healthy balance between your work and personal life, so it only makes sense that you would want to find better ways to get things done. Here are five tips on how to work smarter, not harder:

How a person defines success is a subjective thing, but likely involves some combination of financial independence, loving relationships, a solid education, and a rewarding career. Over the years, I have been fortunate to interview hundreds of founders and executives who fit this bill. Collectively, they tend to exhibit a handful of habits that set them apart from average achievers.

A CEO client is over-extended, has too many priorities to juggle, and is simultaneously hyper-stressed and hyper-exhausted. Actually this describes many of my clients. Does this sound like you too?

Friends, this is no way to go through life. As someone who has dodged two cancer bullets while building two businesses and raising two sons, I have a very healthy respect for mortality, along with the insight that tomorrow is not promised to anyone.

During our call this week, my client shared her anxiety about getting everything accomplished, and that she has made no time to exercise or decompress in several days. She is on a non-stop treadmill.

You've heard the stories, read the reports, and know the trends. It's undeniable that how we work is changing dramatically and that most companies need to reconsider their current strategies to set themselves up for future success. So why isn't your company changing?

It could be the cost or time involved, or perhaps the manpower to lead such a charge. But in those cases, the benefits easily outweigh the costs. Most often, the biggest barrier to change comes down to a mental roadblock.

We've been taught to do things a certain way for so long, it can seem counterintuitive to change.

1. They focus on minutes, not hours.

Average performers default to hours and half-hour blocks on their calendar. Highly successful people know there are 1,440 minutes in every day and there is nothing more valuable than time. Money can be lost and made again, but time spent can never be reclaimed.

As legendary Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller told him, "To this day, I keep a schedule that is almost minute by minute."

You must master your minutes to master your life.

2. They focus only on one thing.

Ultra productive people know their Most Important Task (MIT) and work on it for one to two hours each morning, without interruptions.

Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar Inc., said, "Invest the first part of your day working on your number one priority that will help build your business."

What task will have the biggest impact on reaching your goal? What accomplishment will get you promoted at work?

Ever wonder what sets highly successful people apart? I've polled countless executives about the things they're doing every day which give them an edge, and certain themes have surfaced over time. These high achievers often get up early, proactively manage their health and practice mindfulness, as opposed to flitting from one electronic task to another while neglecting important human relationships. Check out these quotes from 28 high-achieving individuals who talk the daily habits which help them get ahead in business and life.

"This one is simple. Motion creates emotion. The idea of the desk needs to die. Walk for calls, walk for meetings, walk for thinking. You're better when you're walking."

--Chris Hale, founder and CEO at Kountable, a San Francisco-based platform connecting investors and entrepreneurs.

I have never heard of anyone who has had a bad customer experience with Amazon, Apple, Costco, or Salesforce. The aforementioned companies are incredibly successful due, in large part, to a material focus on the customer experience. Not surprisingly, the stock market has handsomely rewarded these four companies over the past decade. 

Amazon is so customer focused that it will literally send you a replacement for a lost package immediately without ever implying that the customer is at fault. The result is a consumer experience that is so optimal that Amazon is the only place where many consumers decide to shop online. 

The same can be said for Apple when it comes to the in-store experience. Apple employees are so passionate about the products that I feel like I am talking to a polite tech enthusiast in the Apple stores and not Apple employees. The result is incredibly brand-loyal customers.