As you might have already figured out, leadership isn't a position or title, it's a way of being that singles you out from the company of your peers. If you want to be a leader, regardless of your actual position, it's time to start acting like one!

In our interviews with some of the most successful leaders in the world, the two most surprising characteristics that they all shared were a deep sense of caring and the willingness to embrace mistakes.

How many leaders have you worked for who actually really cared about their people? Didn't that make a huge difference? The greatest leaders treat their employees as real individuals, not just worker bees. They know that each employee is a whole person, with a rich and complex personal life. They know that every employee is different, and responds to different kinds of motivation, pressure, and modes of communication.

Even if you don't have anyone working for you, you can still demonstrate the leadership skill of caring with everyone in your office. When someone stops to talk to you, really listen and hear what they are saying. When someone has a problem, see how you can help. Look around and be aware of your peers--don't just work like a robot. We work in such sterile environments that the least amount of human caring goes a long way.

The second leadership skill that top leaders share is the willingness to embrace mistakes, whether those mistakes are their own or someone else's. For instance, when an engineer at IBM in the 1960s made a huge $10 million mistake, he immediately went to Thomas Watson, Sr.'s office to hand in his resignation. Watson read the resignation letter, then turned to the employee and said something like, "I just paid $10 million dollars for your tuition! You'd better stick around!" In other words, Watson understood that mistakes were part of doing business.

Being a leader means that when someone around you (or you yourself) makes an honest mistake, you are graceful enough to accept that mistakes happen. Just do what it takes to correct the mistake and make sure it doesn't happen again. Don't pass the buck or look for someone to blame. Understand that to err is human, and we are all human.

Leadership is a never ending topic, yet learning the two leadership skills of caring and embracing mistakes will take you a long way in a society that is so lacking in these two characteristics. Practicing these two skills will set you apart from your peers and get you noticed.