Understanding the difference between management and leadership skills and how to keep them properly balanced begins Michael Feiner's discussion of leadership. Formerly chief people officer at Pepsi-Cola, Feiner is currently a professor of management at Columbia Business School in New York. Knowing how to motivate and energize people is the way to achieve great results, he contends. Corporate success means managing relationships down, up and across.

His book offers 50 basic laws of leadership that will make people want to perform better for you. A discussion of ten of these laws offers an overview of what to expect from the book. Leading people to excel depends on exercising the following laws:

• Law of Expectations — people need your time, attention, focus and feedback to perform well. When you convey your confidence in their ability to get the job done, they rise to the challenge and your expectations become a ceiling for performance, not the floor supporting them.
• Law of Intimacy — in order to treat people equitably and ensure top performance, you must know them and know what makes them tick. Don't confuse this with friendship and socializing outside the office, but know their hopes and dreams so you can relate to them in ways that will inspire them.
• Law of Building a Cathedral — tell your people the meaning and purpose of what they're doing; explain how it will impact the world; share this vision with them with fervor and passion. Then they'll know they are making a difference.
• Law of Personal Commitment — to get loyalty, you must give loyalty. As a leader you must be invested in the growth, development and success of those you lead, not just in your own success. When you demonstrate this loyalty to subordinates, they will pay you back with loyalty and hard work.
• Law of Feedback — teach people how they can improve their performance. Don't be abstract; use specific examples to help them see what they need to do differently. Be specific in your praise as well; tell people what they're doing well.
• Law of Accountability — use performance contracts that spell out specific measures of successful performance. Define key priorities and milestones.
• Law of Winning Championships — none of us is as smart as all of us, so building a winning team is an essential leadership skill. Great leaders select team members for the skills needed on the team, then they learn how much feedback, recognition and encouragement each person on the team needs to deliver a peak performance.
• Law of the Emperor's Wardrobe — a high-performance leader has the courage to give the boss unpleasant feedback; to tell him when he's naked, just as the child in the fairy tale, The Emperor's New Clothes, did. As a leader you need to work to make it easy for your subordinates to give you honest feedback.
• Law of Class vs. Style — treat all people with dignity and respect at all times. Don't be arrogant; recognize that everyone in the organization makes a contribution and that you can learn something from each one.
• Law of the Tombstone — as you climb the corporate ladder, don't think only about your achievements. Think about who you are becoming and judge your actions by your core values.