NO ONE IN the developed world can complain about a lack of access to the latest business news. Screens in office lifts, shopping malls, and banks flashing news headlines and stock market updates almost round the clock, while Twitter, Google, and all of our most trusted news sources are always accessible from the smartphone in your pocket. With such coverage, very little goes unreported and uncommented on – from corporate restructuring and earnings to business collapses.

WHETHER YOU ARE leading a team or an organisation, success always depends on the efforts of every individual in a group. Some employees are naturally motivated and will do all they can. Others might prefer to sit back and watch. What needs to be kept in mind, though, is that you cannot force people to be motivated. You can only create a working environment that encourages them to take part fully and maximise their potential. As a leader, you can do this by framing the future.

AN EFFECTIVE LEADER has the ability to present a vision with which team players can connect emotionally. Such a vision is not a business strategy or a five-year plan, but a broader concept that has the power to unite people and rally them around a common cause. Such a vision can be used to define the future, influence interactions between colleagues and inspire employees to higher levels of achievement.

DO NOT BE surprised if you find a sports coach attending your next annual meeting or sales conference. It has become common for leading companies to invite successful coaches to give motivational speeches on leadership. If you think about it, the principles of leadership and team building are the same, whether on the sports field or in the boardroom. The vocabulary – competition, winning tactics, team spirit and motivation – is virtually interchangeable.

WHAT KEEPS A project leader or the head of a company up at night? There’s no single answer, but chances are the rising expectations of stakeholders will top the list. The mandate is to do more with less, achieve higher targets, perform better, meet tighter deadlines – and do all that within budget.

THERE ARE VARYING notions about what makes a great leader, but everyone agrees there is no one-size-fits-all formula. Attila the Hun, Napoleon, Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Jack Welch are all examples of successful leaders, but as individuals they could hardly be more different.

THE IDEA OF self-discovery is as important today as it was around 2,500 years ago when Socrates said that each person’s aim should be to “know thyself”. For anyone looking to develop a successful style of leadership, knowing who you are is the first and most important step. Only when you fully understand the way you think, act and communicate, and recognise the impact of your behaviour on other people, you can bring about positive change and increase your overall effectiveness.

THERE IS NO shortage of books on leadership. It seems that hardly a week goes by without some senior business executive or management guru going into print with their thoughts and insights on how to get to the top and become a great corporate leader. Visit any bookstore and you will find entire sections dedicated to weighty volumes on the secrets of leadership and management. There are television shows, websites, magazines and seminars focusing on the same topics. The reason is clear: businesses have to achieve better results in a highly competitive environment and must keep finding ways to do more with less.