The imminent layoff of as many as 275,000 of the nation's roughly 3 million public school teachers has called forth the usual responses. Democrats, led by Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. George Miller, want to spend $23 billion to bail out recession-ravaged state budgets and keep teachers on the job, but the rest of Washington has little appetite for stimulus-as-usual given the surging federal debt. Republicans say it's time states got their spending under control without Uncle Sam's help -- a fine-sounding idea until you realize that many schools in poor neighborhoods will see up to a third of their teachers dismissed, making Republican "tough love" look indistinguishable from child abuse.

Luckily, there's a third way that can rejuvenate America's teacher corps while charting a path toward fiscal sanity. The answer is to think "buyout," not "bailout."

There is an inextricable link between leadership and communication. Leaders are the ones who can clearly communicate their vision. And the ones who can clearly communicate their vision are the ones who can lead.

You do not have to be the smartest guy in the room to be the leader. In fact, it is widely accepted by many historians that two of the smartest men to hold the presidency in recent history, the guys with the highest IQ, were Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon. Yet, Ronald Reagan, regardless if you agreed with his politics or not, went down in history for having been one of the most popular presidents of all time. He inspired a nation, presided over the booming ‘80s and was responsible for winning the Cold War. He was not known as one of our smartest presidents -- he was known, instead, as “The Great Communicator.”

Follow the link for more analysis and examples.

This was a great way to spend part of an afternoon. It helped me understand why I've made some of the decisions I've made, and it left me wishing for more. I'd really like to hear Sinek talk about politics. I'll definitely put this book on my shortlist. The video is worth 18 minutes of your time. Watch it.

There's a message or three or seven in Jim W's message:

One never gets tired of positive feedback/appreciation/recognition. (More precisely, "Thank yous.")

Spontaneous Acts of Thoughtfulness are Mighty Love Bombs.

SATs are MLBs that can lead to stratospheric profitability.

SATs are at the Heart of repeat business.

I'll [literally] remember Jim Warren, "the O'Hare guy," until my last breath.

I'll talk about Jim Warren until my last speech.

The fact that JW went to the effort (a) to call, (b) to call from the airport, (c) to go to the trouble of finding me adds multiplicative power to the act.

Tom Peters got a call one day from someone he didn't know to tell how good his new book is. You can read Tom's reaction above; follow the link for suggestions about how you can show gratitude in your life.