If you are a CEO, director or manager, or have the responsibility of overseeing the employees within your company or organization, how are your leadership skills? Do people respect you based on your accomplishments and your personality? Or, are those who follow doing so only out of blind fear, based on dictatorial mandates issued by forceful intimidation? Have you analyzed where you are going this year, or are you still waiting for a lightning bolt from Mount Olympus to inspire you to greatness? Leaders lead, but only because they are able to develop devotion from their followers. How that happens is up to you.

Leadership principles are the same, regardless if you are the head of a business, a church or synagogue, an organization or association, or your family. Knowing the right way to lead comes with experience, both good and bad, and with how you deal with these experiences. As well, wisdom to make the right choices is not gained overnight but rather through a lifetime process of developing insights from life's path. This process can occur through the counsel of wise people, through knowledge gained from the study of great books and from individuals you have met, and through key insights into your personal relationships both spiritually and socially.

True leadership cannot be forced; it must be earned. Here are five leadership tips to focus on in 2012, courtesy of Managing Director and Chief Strategy Officer at N2growth Mike Myatt, author of Leadership Matters…The CEO Survival Manual.