Norman Schwarzkopf: People need to understand what leadership is all about. Leadership is not managing an organization. Organizations are made up of people. Leadership is motivating people. Leadership is about people. So, yes. You’ve got to be competent. There’s no question about the fact that you have to have competence to be a leader, but you also have to have character. Good leaders are men of competence and character. Many times character is more important than the competence side of the house. So I tell people that the secret to modern leadership is two rules. Rule 13: When placed in command, take charge. The leader is the person who is willing to take the responsibility. There are a lot of other people out there who are willing to do the job, but they don’t want to get hung with the loss when it happens. As a leader, you have to be willing to take the responsibility. You have to be willing to take charge. So, Rule 13 says, “When placed in command, take charge.”