Being number one in your industry is a great thing—it’s something we aspire to! But once you’ve gotten there, there’s a great danger in losing the edge, hunger and willingness to take risks that made you so great in the first place.

“It’s actually very rare that the market leader whose most in touch with what people want,” Olof Faxander, president and CEO of SSAB told me. “When you get too big and comfortable, you run into risks as an organization.”

“If you create an environment were people get penalized every time something goes wrong, you create very risk-adverse employees,” he continued. “As long as people take calculated and sound risks you should encourage them to do that. That’s how you can innovate and move forward. If we help align our customers with good products, then we can grow with them."

This innovative company is putting themselves on the line in order to build products and partner with their customers and you’d be surprised how profitable they’ve become in the process!

Watch the video version of my interview with Olof Faxander below:

A lot of us believe that if we're not "naturally" good at something, we can't do it--a notion that can completely stand in the way of us achieving our goals.

But, Keith Ferrazzi, co-author of the bestseller Never Eat Alone, and CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight, says that even if you’re not extraordinary at something, he guarantees you can get better than you currently are.

"If you recognize that a certain skill is important to your life and your success you can get better," he insists.

In order to do that, Keith advises that you continue doing exactly what you've already been doing: just take it a few steps farther.

"You don't have to become someone else to improve things in your life," he emphasizes. "Just figure out what you want to achieve in life, then determine who you need to be hangin’ out with and what you need to do to get that stuff done!"

Check out the video version of my chat with Keith Ferrazzi below:

Have you ever looked at your boss's job and thought, "I could do that!" ?

Dr. Tom Bell, president of the Kansas Hospital Association, says that even though many of us think we can do our boss's job, it usually involves challenges we never expected!

Watch the video version of my chat with Dr. Bell below:

Marjorie Scardino became the first female Chief Executive of a FTSE 100 company when she was appointed CEO of Pearson PLC in 1997. But attaining such a formidable position didn't come from making decisions that people always loved. In fact, for Marjorie, it was quite the opposite! While running a newspaper earlier in her career, important members of the community hated the coverage of them so much, they ostracized Marjorie and her family.

"When we would write articles about certain people in the community, they didn’t like it. So, we learned how to live with people who didn’t like us. We would walk in places and people would literally get up and leave!" she recounts now with a laugh.

Marjorie says she grew to learn that she could fail and not die: "That's a powerful lesson.

If you've never experienced any major failures, you're just afraid of everything."

Watch the video version of my interview with Marjorie Scardino below:

When it comes to being an effective leader, communication is key. Sallie Krawcheck, one of Forbes World's 100 Most Powerful Women, and current head of Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management team, says there's no such thing as explaining something too many times:

"Leadership is about constant communication. I’m often surprised when I feel like there’s subjects we’ve talked about till we’re blue in the face and then there’s still someone who goes, ‘wait—how do we feel about that?' So you take it again from the top."

Keeping your message direct and focused is important too. "Pick a course of action, bring it down to its bare elements, and charge!" Krawcheck advises.

Watch Sallie Krawcheck discuss leadership and communication below: