Editor's Viewpoint

A year of leadership challenges

It's been my privilege to create SmartBrief on Leadership each morning for much of its young life. I can't tell you how gratifying it is to see it succeed.

As one blogger and satisfied reader put it: "It's a great resource for looking smart, being smart and sounding smart."

It's been especially intriguing to see what stories grab your attention. Leadership was certainly in the news a lot in 2008. We've watched political leaders around the globe wrestle with the credit crisis, CEOs adjust their strategies to cope with economic fallout, and American voters elect a new leader. We've brought you stories about the struggles and triumphs of other CEOs, innovations in business practices that we figured you'd want to know about, and wise words from academics who we thought had fresh perspectives on the art and craft of leadership.

But we're not here to sugar-coat your news. Some of our most clicked-on stories were those detailing corporate faults and deficiencies.

We've also sought to bring you stories about cultural trends and technology advances, and we've looked beyond the usual sources for undiscovered gems. I've taken particular pleasure in choosing one story a day -- the diversion -- just for its power to intrigue or delight.

As always, we welcome your feedback. If you find a great story or blog post you think we should run, pass it along.

And now, here are the most popular stories of 2008.

Best of 2008

• Leaders look in the mirror (5/3)

• Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on "SNL" (9/14)

• Nelson Mandela's 8 rules of leadership (7/9)

• The 15 best-paid young CEOs (8/13)

• Think more efficiently (5/2008)

• 7 routes to spectacular failure (9/2008)

• 11 habits of a horrible boss (7/26)

• The 4 core beliefs of Bill Gates (6/20)

• 26 tiny tech tips that will add years to your life (10/2)

• Forbes names the 100 most powerful women (8/27)

Most Memorable Quotes

Most companies don't exercise patience during the hiring process. There is no development system that is going to compensate for making a bad hire."

--Eric Foss,
CEO of Pepsi Bottling

For the talents and ideas of others to emerge, leaders need to step back and provide the space for this to occur."

--Jeff Pfeffer, author and business guru

You must set yourself apart from the competition and build on what makes you unique."

--Jim Bushart,
parts director at the Lynch Hummer dealership

If you decide that you're going to do only the things you know are going to work, you're going to leave a lot of opportunity on the table."

--Jeff Bezos,
CEO of Amazon

You only have one chance to make a first impression. The first 30 days on the job will convince a person whether this is a long-term commitment or if it's just going to be a job."

--Jennifer Cayer,
HR consultant

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