I spent today, sitting in a room with 3000 other leadership geeks at the Art of Leadership conference in Toronto. Our speakers included Adam Grant (Professor and author of Give and Take), Stephen Dubner (best selling author of Freakonomics), Colin Powell (ret.4 star General and US Secretary of State) and a few others. You know the best part of the day? Col. Chris Hadfield (Astronaut and Former Commander of the Int’l Space Station). We were Canadians geeking out to our hero. He was down to earth, engaging, a great story teller and inspiring. He was the ONLY speaker that elicited a standing ovation! The 5 key messages I took from him were:

1. As a leader, it’s important that you’re understood but even more important that you understand.
2. Your team decides how successful you are.
3. Visualize failure, not just success. (but don’t sweat the small stuff)
4. Its not what you pay attention to that matters the most, its what you choose to ignore.
5. Your actions can change someone else’s version of normal, of what’s achievable, so act accordingly.