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1. Be secure in yourself: No one makes you feel inferior without your consent.
2.  Be in control of your attitude: Success in business is based more on mental attitude than mental capabilities
3. Be tenacious: Nothing ever happens with one letter, one telephone call, one request.
4.  Be continuously improving: Take risks. Mistakes provide some of your best learning.
5.  Be honest and ethical: If you are careless with the truth, your credibility will be jeopardized when you are telling the truth.
6.  Be sure to think before you talk: Think fast, pause, then speak purposefully.
7.  Be original: Carefully observe what more people are doing in any situation, and don't do that.
8.  Be publicly modest: It's more of a thrill to have others recognize your ability rather than your pointing it out first. As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, --Never underestimate a man who overestimates himself.--
9.  Be aware of your style: Style does not pertain to clothes. It's about what you do in your clothes.
10.  Be gutsy: List the things that scare you the most - then make it your to-do list.
11.  Be humorous: It takes guts to inject levity into serious business situations - but somebody has to do it, and it better be you.
12.  Be a tad theatrical: Get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Leadership is about performance and performing.
13.  Be detail-oriented: The small things will always make the biggest difference.
14.  Be willing to lead: Be worth listening to, worth believing, worth following.
15.  Be sure to fight for your people: Be loyal downward; spread credit downward.
16.  Be willing to admit mistakes: If you are error-free, you're likely effort-free.
17.  Be straightforward: Everything you say or write can be done in a plain, simple manner. Just do it.
18.  Be nice: The more power and prestige you hold, the less it may seem you need to be nice. Wrong.
19.  Be inquisitive: Ask, ask, ask, and then ask more.
20.  Be competitive: Don't pray for an easy win in situations you are involved in. You don't learn much from success, especially easy success. You learn from struggle.
21.  Be flexible: Be able to stand out from the crowd while still fitting in with the crowd.
22.  Be a good storyteller: People understand you better, remember what you say longer, find you smarter and more interesting if you use anecdotes to make your points.

Million-dollar advice from America's top executive coach

You've seen them. People whose personal magnetism makes them stand out and propels them up the ladder of success.

But is charisma - that powerful personal magic that attracts people and success like a magnet - something you are born with or something you can learn?

It's common knowledge, for example, that the late president John F. Kennedy exuded charisma. Yet historians say his style was so carefully rehearsed that before running for president he commissioned a study to determine the most effective handshake!

Those who study charisma say while some people are innately more charismatic than others, there are certain things everyone can do to boost their charisma quotient. In my years as a coach to the leaders of some of the top corporations, I can offer the following pointers:

• Expect acceptance - Regardless of rank, expect to be treated as an equal. If you expect acceptance, you just might get it. If you don't expect it, you definitely won't.
• Control your attitude - Success is based more on mental attitude than on mental capabilities. Be optimistic toward yourself, others and life. Walk into a room with a spring in your step and a smile on your face.
• Perfect your posture - Lift your ribcage away from your pelvis, roll your shoulders back and down, pull your stomach in and tuck your bottom toward your spine. Breathe deeply. You'll not only look better, but feel more energized, alert and in control.
• Think before you talk - Think fast, pause, then speak purposefully. One CEO I know practices saying everything to himself before he says it out loud. That allows him to hear how it sounds so he can change it if he needs to.
• Slow down - Speed in speaking, moving, gesturing and walking looks nervous and scared. Scared people get passed over. Learn to speak in a comfortable, easygoing and welcoming way. Don't waste time, but do speak as if you have all the time in the world for those you are speaking to.
• Shoot straight - Everything you say or write can be done in a simple, straightforward manner. Just do it.
• Be a good storyteller - People understand you better, remember what you say longer, and find you smarter and more interesting if you use anecdotes to make your points.
• Be aware of your style - Clothes don't make the woman or the man, but they do make a difference. Wear well-tailored, good quality clothes that make you look like you are in charge. But remember, it isn't as much about your look as how you look at things - and what people see when they look at you.
• Admit your mistakes - If you are error-free, you're likely effort-free.
• Don't be bullied - If you are unjustly criticized, don't take the bait and get into an argument. Instead calmly ask: "Why do you think that?" or, "What do you mean?" or, "What's that based on?"
• Be flexible - Be able to stand out while still fitting in with the crowd.
• Be at ease with yourself and others - Look others straight in the eye, eliminate any defensiveness and take the edge off your voice. Never let them see you sweat!

Debra Benton, president of Benton Management Resourcesis one of America's top executive coaches. She works with list of Fortune 500, upwardly-mobile executives. Her best-selling books include How to Think Like a CEO andExecutive Charisma: Six Steps to Mastering the Art of Leadership.

For more advice on advancing your career, be sure to investigate Trump University's course, Play to Win in Business and Life.

"Your reputation is what people use to judge your worthiness for career advancement. You must take aggressive action to protect it."

No matter how good, honest or full of integrity you are in your career, accusations of misconduct or mistakes will come your way, particularly if you're ambitious. When they do, you can't sit back and do nothing.

If it looks like your reputation may suffer a hit, it is time to apply a candid, clear, focused and firm approach to address the situation and accuser. If that advice sounds serious, it is. Your reputation is what people use to judge your worthiness for career advancement. You must take aggressive action to protect it. If your reputation is damaged by a false accusation, take these steps to repair it:

• Meet with the appropriate body within your company or organization to clearly explain the matter. Invite the accuser to the meeting. Use this approach: "I understand there are accusations about . . . Here's the situation from my point of view." Push to get exposure and closure in a timely fashion. Don't let either party off easy because the issue is uncomfortable to discuss.
• Make certain your accuser publicly apologizes. A threat of legal action may help achieve this.
• Educate everyone on your team about what happened, from co-workers to family and friends. Equip them to be solidly on your side by describing what happened.
• Tell colleagues and associates about the situation. Explain it in a way that helps them avoid a similar situation. Use humor and irony. ("You won't believe what happened to me . . .") Be clear and brief and then stop. If you go on and on, it looks like you are protesting too much.
• When you speak about the situation, look and act good-humored and good-natured. Maintain a relaxed tone of voice, expression and demeanor.
• When you are cleared of wrongdoing, have your company or organization make a statement proclaiming your innocence. Make sure your innocence is documented by a memo in your personnel file. Needless to say, you should obtain and file a copy of this memo too.
• Dive in and take on new challenges. This is a good time to seek out a special assignment that offers the opportunity to prove yourself. If you were involved in community service or charity work before the accusations, step up your participation. Whatever you do, don't hide in embarrassment.
• Maintain professional, good-humored and good-natured demeanor around your boss and the accuser going forward. If anyone gets a sense they've "gotten to you," scared you, or weakened your power, he or she may try again.

The final step in repairing a damaged reputation is to have patience. The stigma of guilt will go away. It may take time. But you have to remember that after a relatively short period of time, the episode that nearly damaged your reputation will seem bigger to you than to anyone else.

Debra Benton, president of Benton Management Resourcesis one of America's top executive coaches. She works with list of Fortune 500, upwardly-mobile executives. She is an international speaker and author of several best-selling books including: How to Think Like a CEO and How to Act Like a CEO: 10 Rules for Getting to the Top and Staying There.

For more advice on advancing your career, be sure to investigate Trump University's new audio course, Play to Win in Business and Life.

You've worked hard to get where you are in life. You've studied, labored, gone the extra mile, taken on additional responsibility, continued your education, honed your instincts, developed sound judgment, retained your integrity, generated positive energy and assembled a top-notch staff. You have learned to sense and set direction, plan, budget, master problem-solving (both yours and everyone else's), dress for success, achieve brilliance and multitask out the kazoo.

Yet, despite all of that effort, is something still missing? Maybe you still haven't received the significant success, the level of accountability, impact, or influence that you want. The line on the wall where you will "leave your mark" isn't high enough. Of as one person put it, "My name is not on the right door."

You're puzzled. What more can you do when you've done all you can? What you need to do is find the missing piece of the puzzle - the piece that turns you from a good success to a great one.

My company's research has proven that when people are experiencing this frustration, the missing piece is "Executive Charisma." We define Executive Charisma as, "The ability to gain effective responses from others by using aware actions and considerate civility in order to get useful things done."

You know Executive Charisma it when you see it. I am sure you can remember times when you have had this intangible thing yourself.

In my years as a top executive coach, I have found that few people - even America's most powerful corporate leaders - are born with Executive Charisma. They need to cultivate it by strengthening weaknesses in specific, vital areas.

How can you get it? You can read my advice in greater depth on my Website, but let me summarize the process here for my friends at Trump University:

• Be the first to initiate. You must learn, as top executives have, the art of making the first move. That can mean making a decision before other people do, or being the first to greet people you don't know. Leaders go first.
• Expect and give acceptance. In spite of work pressures and hectic schedules, never treat others in a way that you would not want to be treated.
• Ask questions. Don't do it to impress, interrogate, intimidate, dominate, embarrass or put people in a corner. Instead, ask questions to improve knowledge and foster a learning spirit.
• Ask and give favors. It's one of your best tools to bond with others.
• Stand tall, straight and smile. You can never, for a second, be caught off guard. You need to convey an air of confidence.
• Be human, humorous and hands-on. Humor is an essential ingredient of your success. Above all, it means being able to laugh at yourself.
• Slow down, shut up and listen. Your own words are much less important than what other people have to tell you.

Those are some broad steps to develop executive charisma. As you have noticed, they all come down to strong people skills. But that makes sense. According to a study done by Carnegie Foundation, Harvard University, and the Stanford Research Institute, "people skills" explain 85% of why we get, keep, and move ahead in our careers. Our "technical competence" accounts for only 15%.

Executive charisma is the last piece of the puzzle that you must apply to your life. It's the best-kept secret in business. And there is no walk of life where it doesn't apply. If it isn't "you" to enhance your charisma, maybe you should try being someone else. Regardless of where you are in your career, you can't waste any more time without it.

Debra Benton, consultant to leading executives in 18 countries, heads Benton Management Resources in Fort Collins, Colorado. She is the author of many books, including Lions Don't Need to Roar, How to Think Like a CEO, Secrets of a CEO Coach, How to Act Like a CEO and Executive Charisma.

Editor's note: We are pleased to present the views of Debra Benton, one of America's most sought-after executive coaches. After you have visited her Website, be sure to check out all the great career resources at Trump University too, including Play to Win in Business and Life from Les Hewitt.