The latest chapter in beauty mogul Bobbi Brown's career kicked off in October 2020 when her non-compete clause with Estee Lauder expired and she was free to debut her new makeup brand, Jones Road. Brown, who started her career as a makeup artist and grew a reputation for less made-up natural looks, sold her brand to Estee Lauder in the mid-'90s and grew it into a multi-billion dollar brand before leaving Estee Lauder in 2016. In her new book, "Still Bobbi," Brown tells the story of how she won a reputation for being a relatable everywoman known for her candor.

Using fear as a leadership strategy "has a very short shelf life," says author and speaker Brené Brown, who says such leaders "have to demonstrate a capacity for cruelty at very regular intervals" to keep people in line, but Brown feels "people are becoming less and less tolerant of living that way." Instead, Brown says leaders must be compassionate but courageous enough to have hard conversations and hold people accountable instead of using shame, blame or fear.

Sara Blakely's journey to founding Spanx was defined by her willingness to make bold bets on herself and her idea. Starting with just $5,000 from her time selling fax machines, Blakely resisted conventional pathways, instead relying on her instincts and taking calculated risks. Blakely chose to keep her idea a secret from even her family and closest friends for a full year, believing that newly formed ideas are highly vulnerable to outside negativity and skepticism. By avoiding early exposure, Blakely allowed her idea to develop without interference, and she ultimately built it into a brand that sold for $1.2 billion.

Personality traits, such as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability, play a significant role in leadership success, according to Eva Asselmann, a professor at HMU Health and Medical University, who emphasizes that while there is no single best personality type, self-awareness and adaptability can enhance your overall skills. Asselmann offers exercises to help you stay authentic while developing personality traits, such as setting boundaries if you're too agreeable and practicing speaking last if you're always talking first.

When you're overwhelmed as a leader, it can impact your company's efficiency, decision speed and employee morale as teams wrestle with unclear priorities, which can result in lost opportunities and turnover, writes Allison Dunn with Deliberate Directions. To prevent this, Dunn outlines how to achieve strategic, operational and personal clarity by creating systems for setting priorities and hierarchies about how decisions get made and by whom, taking most of the weight off of you.

"Show up on time, know your lines and have a take," are three things actor Tom Hanks says he heard a director define as professionalism, and executive coach Doug Thorpe writes that it counts for leaders, too, who need to be present for their people, prepared to handle situations and have new ideas to improve things. "Here's what happens when leaders consistently show up on time, come prepared, and bring something valuable to every interaction: other people start doing the same thing. It's contagious in the best possible way," Thorpe writes.

Skip the small talk when meeting strangers at conferences or networking events and build camaraderie using what psychologists call "riffing playfully" by joking about shared experiences or building on humorous observations, writes author Minda Zetlin. The practice encourages full attention, spontaneity and building on each other's remarks, making interactions more memorable and meaningful, Zetlin writes.