4Effective elected leaders can make a huge difference in their communities; conversely those elected who are ineffective can create significant and long term problems. The point of this book is to identify common problems that elected officials face during their service, and offer practical solutions. Since we rarely elect "perfect leaders," our democratic system is structured so ordinary citizens can become successful as long as they work at it. Interestingly, the people who find the greatest success as public officials are those who quickly pivot their attention from "Me" to "We," develop effective relationships with their colleagues, and listen more and talk less.