Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal.

What's different now is that while political leaders used to give talking points to talk radio now talk-radio hosts are giving talking points to political leaders. It's all part of the suffocating spin cycle we're in. In media politics and publishing the conventional wisdom is to play to this base.

We should invade their countries kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war.

But when will our leaders learn - war is not the answer.

When political and business leaders tell the public - any public - 'We don't trust you to make the right decision' - they prejudice that electorate against the very proposals they want it to accept and undermine public confidence in themselves.

The American people want to have trust in their leaders.

America is a country ready to be taken in fact longing to be taken by political leaders ready to restore democracy and trust to the political process.

The trust of the people in the leaders reflects the confidence of the leaders in the people.

While eschewing emotion - and its companion vulnerability - Obama should be careful not to sacrifice empathy the 'I feel your pain' connection that sustained Clinton. This connection is the shorthand people use to measure their leaders' intentions. If people believe you're on their side they will trust your decisions.

Social technology gives leaders a vital new platform with which to connect their companies to the myriad stakeholders who have an interest in their well being.

Leaders have to act more quickly today. The pressure comes much faster.

In the depth of the near depression that he faced when he came in Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress provided 'recovery funds' that literally kept our classrooms open. Two years ago these funds saved nearly 20 000 teacher and education jobs - just here in North Carolina.

If the terrorists have the sympathy of people it's much harder to find them. So we need people on our side and that leads us to be responsible leaders of the world show some concern with the problems.

I think leaders are incapable of the strength that passive resistance entails.

By and large we have got to find the good leaders to work with to make sure that we build the strength in these communities. Simply issuing edicts from Canberra isn't going to solve issues on the APY lands.

The Women's Sports Foundation holds a unique position in developing opportunities for girls and women of all abilities to be active whether recreationally or competitively and I'm excited to help lead the organization to impact even more lives. It is an honor to continue to build the legacy created by Billie Jean King and all of our leaders.

The big journals and Nobel laureates are the equivalent of Congressional leaders in science journalism.