Nina Simosko says we can all use these turbulent times to determine acceptable risk tolerance for ourselves and our organizations. Performance under pressure is a true leadership prerequisite. Anyone who cannot cope with tough times has no claim to being a leader at all.

Nina Simosko reminds us all that it’s usually better to be respected and not liked than to be liked and not respected. Delivering criticism honestly can be hard, yet the alternative is worse: the creeping sense that a boss needs to be liked so much that he or she will sacrifice performance and integrity rather than risk being called a bad name.

With the global economy still working its way through a seemingly interminable series of financial crises and yo-yoing oil prices, companies are struggling to manage all the repercussions. Nina Simosko looks at the underlying causes of our on-going management malaise.

Nina Simosko reminds us never to discount the value of seeking input from others. Career progression is often based on the impact of others. Without the input of other people in her ‘village’, she believes she wouldn’t be where she is today. Leaders, no matter how good they may be, are always representatives of a larger group.

We all reach points in our lives where we hit a wall of sorts. It is at these critical junctures that we must think, innovate and overcome. “Don’t let naysayers dictate your outlook,” writes Nina Simosko. “Reinvent and recast yourself.” By having a solid team and sticking with them through thick and thin, success is yours to lose. How have you used innovation, reinvention and a trusty team to overcome obstacles?

As someone who has been in the professional workforce for the entirety of the “work-life balance” debate, Nina Simosko says she has never agreed with the notion of achieving some kind of balance between competing segments of life. For her, life is a continuum: while there are clearly times when work-related responsibilities demand more of the 24 hours available in any given day, there are also times where personal matters rightly claim the lion’s share. The answer is to focus on outcomes, not some illusory and theoretical balance.

While not necessarily perfect, today’s corporations do in fact offer far greater opportunities for women to achieve influential leadership positions than any other time in our history. And these trends seem as though they will continue. But, as with anything else, don’t wait for society or a corporation to ‘make things right’ on their own. Take responsibility for your circumstances and proactively request what you genuinely believe you deserve.

We can learn important, real-life lessons from Britney Spears and her professional and personal downfall. What management techniques can be employed to manage a crisis such as Britney’s? How do you turn around a bad situation? Nina Simosko explains how crises can be handled more successfully by following what she calls the STOP approach — and why you need to over-communicate in a crisis.

Each leader must chart her own course, but as we can see from Nelson Mandela’s example, a determined focus on a clear outcome helps guide all decisions and tactics along the way. A recent interview with Nelson Mandela provides an open-minded and insightful view of leadership from someone who has both known great power and also been bereft of influence at different times in his 90 years. The interview provides eight leadership lessons we should all take to heart.