Leah is the head of her company's sales team. She's cool, calm, and a little aloof; when she praises her direct reports, they know they have earned it. They sometimes joke about her "hands-off" management style, but it gets results. She comes up with new strategies on her own, but holds regular meetings to set out ambitious goals for the team to tackle. While she proposes bold strategies for achieving those goals, her team appreciates that she doesn't micromanage them. Leah's strategies always seem to get her team motivated, even though business has been slow for the company for the past few years.

Araj leads an extremely talented and competitive group of developers at a top apparel company. When a new product comes down from management, Araj doesn't waste much time with meetings or strategy sessions; he gets to work. The team has gotten used to observing him and following his lead. Though they are sometimes unsure about what to do in certain situations, Araj's high level of personal performance inspires them to be self-motivated problem solvers.

Mark runs his company's R&D department, which is a bit different from other departments. Half of his employees are actually interns from the local technical college, some of whom will stay on for full-time jobs after graduation. He has found that the best way to get results from these staff members is to provide them with very clear goals and directions for achieving these goals. Then he pairs up each intern with a full-time staff member, with whom the intern meets once a week to discuss problems and plans for improvement.