It's election season, and one of the greatest privileges we have in America is selecting our own leaders. While we might have widely varied opinions of who should win, the fundamental characteristics of good leadership remain constant.

A sociology professor from one of the country's major universities spent his life studying leadership by tracing the careers of 5,000 former students. When he was asked how you spot a leader he said, "I have come to the conclusion that the only way one can determine a leader is to look at the person and see if anybody is following."

Leadership is a difficult skill to measure, but it is certainly easy to determine when leadership is not present in an organization.

In four years of executive seminars conducted by Santa Clara University and the Tom Peters Group/Learning Systems, more than 5,200 senior managers were asked to describe the characteristics they most admire in a leader. Here are the top 10 characteristics, as reported in Management Review magazine: honest, competent, forward-looking, inspiring, intelligent, fair-minded, broad-minded, courageous, straightforward and imaginative.

Three of these characteristics are particularly significant in my opinion: forward-looking, inspiring and courageous. All the others are also necessary ingredients for an effective leader and for every employee.

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, "Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will all say, 'We did this ourselves.'" He made that observation more than 2,000 years ago. Some things never change.

Good leaders really listen to the people who work for them. They pay attention to what people are telling them and take it very seriously.

Good leaders use their power to implement ideas that workers bring forth; they are quick to give credit to the person who had the idea. Then comes the action that really sets good leaders apart: They are willing to accept the blame and criticism when mistakes are made. They don't abandon their employees.

Warren Bennis spent much of his life researching leadership and has written several books on the subject of what makes leaders. Warren is a distinguished professor of business administration and the founding chairman of The Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California, which I had the honor of serving on the board. In 2007, Businessweek called him one of the 10 business school professors who have had the greatest influence on business thinking.

Bennis traveled around the country spending time with 90 of the most effective and successful leaders in the nation -- 60 from corporations and 30 from the public sector. His goal was to find these leaders' common traits. At first, he had trouble pinpointing any common traits, as the leaders were more diverse than he had expected.

But he later wrote: "I was finally able to come to conclusions, of which perhaps the most important is the distinction between leaders and managers. Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.

"Both roles are crucial, but they differ profoundly. I often observe people in top positions doing the wrong thing well," he wrote in his book "Why Leaders Can't Lead."

I tend to think of the differences between leaders and managers as the difference between those who master the context within which they operate and those who surrender to it. There are other differences, as well, and they are enormous and crucial. Bennis details them in his book, "On Becoming A Leader," and they include:

-- The manager administers; the leader innovates.

-- The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.

-- The manager maintains; the leader develops.

-- The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.

-- The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.

-- The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.

-- The manager asks "how" and "when"; the leader asks "what" and "why."

-- The manager always has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon.

-- The manager imitates; the leader originates.

-- The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

-- The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his own person.

Mackay's Moral: Good leaders develop more than good employees, they develop more good leaders.

The old cartoon strip character Calvin, from "Calvin and Hobbes," once said the difference between him and the rest of the world was, "Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!"

Calvin is right. You must live with enthusiasm. It's one of the most important attributes to success.

One of life's greatest tragedies is that the curiosity, enthusiasm and excitement about life that we are born with seem to erode as the years go by. When the challenges of daily life get in the way, it is easy to spend more energy on putting out little fires than on sparking enthusiasm for overcoming those challenges.

Henry Ford once said, "You can do anything if you have enthusiasm ... Enthusiasm is the spark in your eye, the swing in the gait, the grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of your will and your energy to execute your ideas. Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress. With it, there is accomplishment. Without it, there are only alibis."

You may recall Henry Ford's early struggles to make his fledgling company successful. His enthusiasm for building mass-produced cars that many middle-class Americans could afford revolutionized transportation and American industry. Enthusiasm prevented him from giving in to setbacks and pressure.

When my own enthusiasm wanes, and it sometimes does, I look for inspiration from three of my favorite resources. Their advice is timeless, far-reaching and well worth revisiting any time you feel your spirit flagging.

"Enthusiasm is the priceless quality that makes everything different. The men and women who achieve the most are invariably inspired by enthusiasm. They approach life, its opportunities and its problems with this vital characteristic," said Norman Vincent Peale, author of "The Power of Positive Thinking."

"Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success," according to Dale Carnegie, one of the most successful inspirational writers of all time. Do you know his books "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living"? They are great first steps to cultivating enthusiasm for living.

Napoleon Hill, another of my favorite authors, says in his classic work "The Laws of Success in 16 Lessons" that enthusiasm in life is an essential ingredient for success. Enthusiasm energizes, refreshes and motivates the person endowed with it.

Hill says some people are born with a natural enthusiasm, and some people have to develop it. How? Simple, he says. Work at something you love.

That's easier said than done, you might say, but you can be enthusiastic in practically anything you do, no matter how mundane. Perhaps the job has aspects that you truly hate. Maybe the office is unattractive, but the people there are top-notch. You're learning and contributing. Change is possible. Attitude is key.

No matter your situation, negative thinking will not improve it. Focus on the positive, even if it is a small thing. Train your brain to look for the silver lining, and then be amazed at how your improved attitude leads to enthusiasm.

Let me tell you a story that my friend the late Charlie "Tremendous" Jones shared with me about a guy who dreamed he inherited a million dollars. He dreamed he went to take a shower that morning and the shower wouldn't shower. He started to shave and the shaver wouldn't shave. He went to get some coffee and the coffee wouldn't perk, and the toaster wouldn't toast. He went to get the newspaper, but the newspaper wasn't there. He went to catch the bus and the bus didn't come. He waited 45 minutes, and finally a guy came puffing down the street.

"What's going on here?" he asked, and the guy gasped, "Haven't you heard? Everybody inherited a million dollars! Nobody's working anymore!"

Just then the man woke up. And he went and had a tremendous shower and a tremendous shave and a tremendous cup of coffee and a tremendous piece of toast. He read a tremendous newspaper and caught a tremendous bus to a tremendous job!

What a difference it makes when we are learning to get excited about the work we have today!

Mackay's Moral: There is one thing more contagious than enthusiasm, and that is the lack of enthusiasm.

"Trust flows from individuals, not organizations." That's the best summary I can provide of David Horsager's hot new book, "The Trust Edge -- How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships and a Stronger Bottom Line."

Why is this book so valuable? The topic couldn't be timelier. In my opinion, the most important five-letter word in the English language is spelled T-R-U-S-T. It's so critical, publisher Simon & Schuster's Free Press has made "The Trust Edge" its leading business book this fall, with a publication date of Oct. 9.

Want another reason why I think it's so important? I know Dave Horsager, and I trust him! He is the perfect author for a book on this topic. He has been studying the topic for 10 years, and we can all benefit from his research.

Let me give you a sample of his wisdom: "Trust defined -- Trust is the confident belief in an entity:

-- To do what is right

-- To deliver what is promised,

-- To be the same every time, regardless of circumstances."

I can't imagine a person staying in business very long without trust from every angle. Your customers have to be able to trust you. Your employees must trust you. Your vendors must trust you. Even your competitors must trust you. It's that simple. If any of those relationships break down, close your doors and find another way to make a living.

Horsager says, "Without trust, the transactions cannot occur. Without trust, influence is destroyed. Without trust, leaders lose teams. Without trust, organizations lose productivity, relationships, reputation, talent retention, customer loyalty, creativity, morale, revenue and results."

As he was studying top organizations and leaders, Horsager found that some had a clear advantage over others. "Those leaders or organizations that could weather storms, charge higher prices, maintain respect with customers and clients, and foster long-term growth were special," Horsager writes. "The greatest leaders and organizations of all time have had the same competitive edge. They were trusted."

He confirms what I have learned over my decades in business: Trust doesn't happen overnight. "While it may appear to be static, trust is more like a forest -- a long time growing, but easily burned down with a touch of carelessness," he says.

Several years back I wrote about a study by Forum Corporation, which Horsager also cites as evidence of the importance of trust. Using hundreds of salespeople from 11 companies in five different industries, the investigators found that the unique trait of top producers was honesty -- not charisma, ability or knowledge.

For as long as I have been in business, I have believed that the most charming, most educated, most technically astute sales- and businesspeople will be abject failures unless all those traits are wrapped in honesty. When we trust people, we are optimistic not only that they are competent to do what we trust them to do, but also that they are committed to doing it. They will be totally honest with a customer even when it is difficult or potentially costly. Their reputations are more important than any deal.

In that spirit, Horsager has identified the eight pillars of trust that are key attributes of successful leaders: clarity, compassion, character, competency, commitment, connection, contribution and consistency. He includes terrific advice and even study questions to drive home every point. In other words, as Horsager says, "The Trust Edge is the competitive advantage gained when others confidently believe in you!"

"The Trust Edge" is extremely well organized, with terrific and easily relatable examples, providing convincing support for his points. Useful graphics like tabbed pages lead you to specific chapters and sections, and also remind you on every page of the eight pillars of trust.

This book has arrived not a moment too soon for the trust crisis we are facing in the world. Developing and cultivating trust is fundamental to a successful business, personal relationship or even a functional government. Trust me, if you follow David Horsager's advice, you'll have an unbeatable edge.

Mackay's Moral: Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing to do.