Are you on the path from good to great? If not, how do you get there?

Author and entrepreneur Rick Smith began his hour-long talk by inviting his audience to invoke a time when they envisioned themselves as leaders who would achieve their greatest potential. “Go back to when you were a child, when you believed you can accomplish anything in the world and believed that you control the outcome of your life.”

“But along life,” he continued, “we begin to settle below our ultimate potential, and begin rationalizing.” He offered his own example of rationalizing, at age eight, when he scored a modest B on a test. This middling academic record continued to college where, he mockingly boasted, “I was in the top 80%.” Upon graduation, he welcomed the chance to begin anew in the workforce, but by the time he reached thirty-seven, he says his resume could be summarized as follows: “Quit, laid-off, quit, laid-off.”

This ushered in a personal crisis for Rick. As he tells it, he looked at himself in the mirror and thought, “Is this it?” Slowly, he began to flesh out an admittedly unrealistic idea of creating a worldwide network of executives, which he named the “World 50.” Despite the loftiness of his goal he moved ahead, asking himself, “What is the harm or risk in exploring this possibility?” Soon, the Chief Marketing Officer of Eastman Kodak signed on and within two years, 200 executives of Fortune 1000 companies joined, each paying $50,000 for the opportunity to share in this exclusive network.

According to Rick, each individual’s potential is in his or her own mind. This also serves as the biggest mystery for those in leadership roles—namely, how do you unlock that potential? How do you move from unarticulated aspirations to inspiring others? He believes that there is a pattern to leadership and it is consistent, knowable and replicable.

In his book, “The Leap,” he explores the three myths that pervade and prevent people from making the leap from good to great:

Myth #1: In order to make a leap, I must change who I am.

The truth? “I must align myself with who I am and leverage my strengths and passions on a daily basis.” Don’t believe this? If you ask any iconic leader what his or her secret is, each will offer you a unique take. Jack Welch? Unwavering confidence. Bono? Humility.

Discovering one’s strength proved to be a difficult task. Because the prevailing tools and assessments were insufficient and performance reviews consistently told people what they were doing wrong, Rick created his own diagnostic test with the help of leading industrial psychologists. Available at [primarycolorassessment.com], the Primary Color Assessment helps users determine whether their current jobs bring them closer to their passions and strengths.

Myth #2: To dramatically increase my impact, I must go at it alone.

The truth? “To dramatically increase my impact, I must attract others in my journey.” Again, iconic leaders led from their strengths, passions and with big, selfless and simple ideas. Why is this so? Big ideas attract attention; selfless ideas elicit empathy; and simple ideas are easily understood.

To illustrate how big, selfless and simple ideas catch on in real life, Rick offered the story of Silvia Lagnado, who worked in the marketing division at Unilever. She wanted to start a new campaign centered on the radical idea that female beauty emanates from the inside. To convince the predominantly male executives at Unilever, she visited each of the company’s country managers and filmed the executives’ daughters on how they viewed themselves. In response to her simple question, “Name one thing you don’t like about yourself,” the young girls revealed astonishing levels of insecurity and self-awareness. As a result, Dove started its now famous Campaign for Real Beauty, in addition to its Self-Esteem Fund, which channels money to organizations that promote healthy self-image for young girls.

Myth #3: In order to take a great leap, I must take on great risk.

The truth? “Successful people are risk mitigators.” Many people mistakenly believe that to make a change, they must dive in headfirst. Rick encourages the opposite. With a small step, you can initiate a “spark sequence.” For instance, once you educate yourself, you can dabble and experiment in different opportunities. This will build experience and as you move forward, you will start to ask, would I like it? Do I have capacity? Is there opportunity? The catch is, however, that you must open yourself up to the possibility of a new direction.

He left the room with these words, “Let tomorrow be a different day than today and take ownership of your own potential. It’s never too late to become what you might have been, and it’s also never too early to start.”

Some more advice from Rick:
- On what makes an effective leader: They focus on others’ success. They redefine objectives and do more than what they’ve been told to do, beyond what needs to be done. He also noted that he didn’t see a distinction between men and women in this regard. Great leaders figured out what they were good at, then focused on those things. On the other hand, middle managers “want to be everything to everyone.”

- On professional authenticity: ask yourself, do you even want the job you’re striving for? Pay is a trailing indicator of actual impact.

- In response to a question on how he convinced others to pay $50,000 a pop to join his organization, “I asked each of them, what would it be worth to you to have a conversation with yourself 12 months from now? Someone is always 12 months ahead of you on your challenges.”

- How to network: don’t “call in” favors. Instead, craft a model for how others can feel invested and consider this an opportunity for you to do good things for others.

- How can people in their 20s follow their strengths and passions? “Lighten up! Make sure you fail, succeed, bounce around and most importantly, learn. Bust your butt, work hard and learn.”