“The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It’s very easy to say yes.” — Tony Blair Tony Blair isn’t the only one who thinks that. So does Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett. Focus is everything. One of the clearest signs of poor leadership is the inability to focus — it’s easy to say yes and it’s very hard to say no. Seymour Schulich elaborates on this in Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons: This piece of wisdom was instilled in me many years ago by Joe Rotman, an entrepreneur who is the benefactor of the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.