Many years ago I was at a conference in Brussels. A consultant participated there in about 70 years. He had worked in leadership development for most of his life. He was then asked: What is your most important advice to give?

Then he answered

• good leaders always seek the truth, i.e. regardless of what people and the environment say, they strive to find out the truth, so they get a more secure basis for their navigation
• too many leaders are just plumbers... Hmmm. Well, they mostly care about how the pipes are drawn - not what flows in them... Sure, the pipes matter, but it's the content that decides

 I often think of that advice...