The primary difference between good marketing and great marketing is leadership. There are hundreds of good books written on leadership. I’ve read most of them and can recommend specific books to help others on their path to learn great leadership skills depending on where they are on that path.

Those books have helped me become successful in many business opportunities in my life. I am no different than many other great leaders who have “failed our way to success” over the years.

I have found one book that rises above all others in bringing to light one of the most important lessons in every life on earth, and what I believe to be the single most important lesson in leadership. The book is titled “The Slight Edge,” by Jeff Olson.

For those of you who don’t know who Jeff Olson is, he has been recognized as a man who has made more millionaires of people than anyone else. This book is so effective it is required reading in many high schools and in my opinion should be part of the education curriculum of every high school in the world.

In Jeff’s words, he says, “Why is it that some people live the life they’ve always dreamed of, while others watch from the sidelines as their own dreams gather dust? Is it luck, or an elusive quality that only some people are born with? Neither. Everything you need to live your own dream is contained between the pages of a simple book. It’s called ‘The Slight Edge,’ and it’s NOT a self-help gimmick or motivational tool. It simply shows you how to create powerful results from the simple daily activities of your life, by using tools that are already within you. Once you’ve got it, then you will discover how your philosophy … creates your attitude … creates your actions … creates your results … creates YOUR LIFE! And your life will never be the same again.”

He reminds us that if we simply hold ourselves accountable to do the same things every day — the little things that don’t seem to matter in the moment — we will push through the clutter that comes at us every waking moment and will find ourselves successful in whatever we pursue.

Whether your desire is to be the best CEO, the best marketing person or the best sales person — or you intend to lose weight or become stronger physically or be the best musician. The principle applies to every one of us in every intended effort to become successful at anything we want.

I think it would be awesome if our own Leadership Napa Valley made this book one of the required books to read to graduate. It reminds us how to remove clutter and bring focus into our lives that make all of us leaders.

And isn’t that what all of us really want in the end?