I study leadership the way dentists study clinical care—it's my profession. I've led successful businesses myself for more than 30 years, and a big part of my business is teaching about leadership.

So I'm very interested in what makes great leaders great. I like to look for common denominators.

Here's one: Almost all effective leaders have what I call finishing power. And finishing power can be broken down into three essential components:

1. Attention. Attention in the form of time, or attention in the form of money—because nothing happens in life unless it's in your calendar or in your budget, or both. Real leaders figure out what needs to be done and apply their attention to it.

2. Performance. It's not enough to know what to do; you have to be prepared to do it at a high level. Lots of people have gym memberships and many even go regularly. But only a few of those people are serious about using their time there in a focused, self-accountable way. Real leaders are relentless about getting the most from the moment.

3. Mission. You can't get the most from the moment if you haven't defined your terms – and that's about setting standards of performance. What is good? What is better? What is best? What are the indicators? Real leaders establish a mission that has measurable criteria.

I recommend you use these components as a significant part of your leadership blueprint. Create a definable mission that focuses your attention, drives your performance, and gives purpose to your daily energies.

This is what takes you from being an inspiring visionary to being a real leader. This is what it means to have finishing power.


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