“The man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.” — Dale Carnegie

Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines Founder and former CEO and Chairman, built a company consistently named among the top five “Most Admired Corporations in America” in Fortune magazine’s annual poll. Fortune has also called him “Perhaps the best CEO in America.”

Reflecting on the start-up, Mr. Kelleher writes, “Everybody in Texas would tell me they thought I was nuts trying to start Southwest Airlines. There probably weren’t 10 people in the state who would have given a plug nickel for our chances of making a dollar. So sometimes, you need a little courage, just to buck popular opinion.”

The Bottom Line: Leaders have courage to take risk that at times defies ‘conventional wisdom’.