Interestingly I asked this question on a recent on-line in response to a discussion topic.  Interestingly the only comment was about companies, not people.  Who are the people who are our leaders?  We’ve seen some people in the past, but have we forgotten them?  Are we too busy?  And why did we not come up with names today?  Is it that hard?  Do we not take the time?  Because without knowing our leaders, we can’t look for or train our next generation of leaders.  We can’t see the innovative ideas, the understanding of new trends, or the risk issues that we need to overcome.  We see some major issues in the coming years in the industry:  Infrastructure condition, water quality deterioration and supplies are among them.  The question is how to solve them.  It is also what do we leave behind?  If you are a person who wants to be a leader, there are a number of skills you need, and you need to be at the right place, at the right time.  You also need to think about the long-term impacts of your plans/policies and actions.  How will they be perceived 10 or 20 years out.  How will your decisions impact the course of the organization? I remind elected officials that no one remembers the guy who refused to raise water bills (or taxes).  But they do remember when infrastructure fails.  The do recognize when thought was put into securing a water supply, treatment capacity or treatment processes to secure water quality.