I work with 12 premises in guiding leaders development.  It is understood that a person must stand accountable for own development and not be diverted by external influence.  Otherwise their "development" is not sustainable and will fall short of achieving potential.

Foremost premise: "The aim of a person when leading is to be an influence in the lives of others."  In order to be a constructive influence a leader must make a conscious will based decision to take the lead in a particular situation.  Ground for will is personal core values that we believe a person must portray authentically.  Decision to lead is never made casually, always internally generated and not compormised by external influence.

Leader (and others) grow in character as consequence of struggle with temptation, threat, and adversity as they aim to hold true to core values.  Character development is always the result of deep, values based testing.

Second and timely premise:  "Leadership does not occur as the result of assignment, certification, or seniority."  Common and automatic reference to highly placed individuals, experts, politicians and media pundits as "leaders" when most are clueless about leading and tend to be "misleading."  These references have left the public in a cynical and doubtful position about leading which makes our task more challenging and much more urgent.