Flex Time Learning to be flexible in any situation can be the key to effective leadership.

When David "WhiteThunder" Trottier wanted to drum up in-line skaters' interest in a new skate wheel he planned to distribute, he dropped by the place skaters go near his St. Michael, North Dakota, three-employee company, WhiteThunder Inc. He didn't bring any wheels to show the four skaters he found there. Instead, he brought a supply of skater jargon and a tantalizing offer.

"I asked them, `Do you grind? Do you do any half-pipes?' " Trottier says. "The kids looked at me and asked, `How do you know all this?' I just said I wanted to give a kid a set of wheels to test for me. The next night I came back, and there were 20 kids waiting to see the wheel."

Trottier's interest-building ploy is a tactic of situational leadership, a model of leading that says there is no one right way to influence people. Rather, there are several ways, any one of which may be appropriate depending on the level of readiness and the ability of the people who are to be led.