Notoriously outspoken, his sentences always punctuated with profanities, General George S. Patton was the epitome of what a leader should be like - or so he thought. Patton believed a leader should look and act tough, so he cultivated his image and his personality to match his philosophy.

It is only from the people I've had the good fortune to meet that I am learning the lessons to guide me. Baz Luhrmann, director of 'Moulin Rouge,' for example, has a childlike curiosity about the world. He doesn't pretend to know all the answers - quite the opposite, in fact. He asks loads of questions of everyone.

Republicans are completely befuddled by Obama's 'star power' and don't seem to have a clear or effective strategy to compete.

I never imagined working with CEOs, congressmen or the military, yet I make regular visits to the Pentagon, stop by the Capitol now and then and sit down with leaders of all kinds of companies.

As the Palestinian leadership never seems to pay any penalty for its words, America's seriousness about the peace process is in doubt.

As mainstream religious leaders of different faiths get together, it strengthens the voice of moderation.

We were elected to serve our districts, and that demands putting bygones aside. That's what leadership's all about.

Neither as a writer nor, moreover, as a leader of a nation should you use terminology that obscures the reality of human evil.