Check out Simon Sinek–How Great Leaders Inspire Action (TED lecture):

For inspirational leadership, it all starts with “Why”…..

I had the privilege of hearing General George W. Casey, Jr. (Ret.) 36^th Chief of Staff, United States Army discuss the challenges of working and leading in a VUCA environment—volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity.  Wikipedia has an excellent article about how this military concept has been utilized in business and higher education: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity

Some of General Casey’s gems:

• Expect that your plan will not survive first contact with the enemy.
• Hard to make predictions when talking about the future.
• Clarity and simplicity are key in communications; leaders should be prepared to repeat themselves over and over.

6 areas that leaders need to focus on for success:

1. Vision and strategy
2. Unity of effort – consensus-building inside and outside the organization
3. Build a great team – members should have vision, courage, and character
4. Influencing organizational change
5. Communication
6. Sustaining yourself – read, rest, exercise, think

Some of these areas are described in Chapter 6 of this NDU Press book called Strategic Reflections: http://www.ndu.edu/press/strategic-reflections-ch6.html