Trying to keep clients engaged enough to sit and have a conversation about career needs, most just want the "right now job" instead of doing something to find out what they like, what skills they have to work with now and ones that they can work on improving.  But everyone is just looking at best pay and forgoing happiness.  

Communication has always been a difficult area for me,  it is either too little and then it looks like I am upset.  The reverse being to much and you need to learn that silence is golden.  My challenge is to learn the  middle ground, between actively listening and speaking.   

Using critical thinking without emotions,  while getting heated about a topic and trying to talk some into submission is not always going to work in the corporate world.  You must use logic free of emotion, moral judgement, and you must have all the facts with data to back it up.  Never go into a meeting or decision without first thinking about all the outcomes and then what good with come of it or what bad thing could happen.  Then figure out what you need to do to figure it out from there.  A good leader must think on his feet and just like chess think three moves ahead and try not to depend on others opinions as true data.

I have set up meeting for my boss' and would give advice if it is required.  Whenever I set up the meeting, the agenda was key.  But what I have learned over the years is to have participants' give feedback on the agenda before the meeting so that if needed I can either support or not support  their ideas with facts, figures and data.  I like to be fully informed on which ever subject is being discussed

The leader that comes to mind would consistently empower stakeholders with information, key information that would see the company transparently.  If more manpower was needed to complete a project, he would let them know exactly what we could do, he never hid anything from them or from his employees.  He made sure that everyone cross trained so no one individual was not the saving grace and that the company could survive anything.  He was a very rare individual and he always knew what to say to get what the company needed even if it wasn't always see it that way.