When you read the word "leader," you might think of the movie Gladiator, where Russell Crowe leads his people to battle to defeat the barbarians, and the army follows him without question. Or you may think about the late Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, who was revered by her people, without ruling over them. Or perhaps you think about a coach of a high school soccer team who comes up with plays, shows both soft and tough love to get their team to take on that challenge of the championship, concluding with that impressive "You've got this!" speech.

You can read countless books on leadership and ways to effectively exercise leadership, but I am going to share some key concepts that I have employed, which I believe are fundamentally the reason why a great leader can drive a collective to an outcome that could otherwise never be achieved.

Concepts that I won't be highlighting are being authoritative, making all the decisions, demanding loyalty or giving false hope or magical speeches of greatness.

In fact, these principles are quite the opposite.

Related: 7 Timeless Principles That Will Help You Become a Better Leader

The Japanese have a slightly more sophisticated word called "Gemba" or "Go see," which always resonated with me and has been at the heart of my actions in leadership.

Be present. Show your team that you are in it with them, and when you see or hear something that doesn't seem quite right or is preventing the team or company from moving in the right direction, go and actually take a look at what is going on.

As a biotech leader, I am going to use a very specific example of this concept at one of my startups. The company I worked with was doing research and development using micro-organisms, and working with these organisms required the scientists to be diligent in their ways of working, so that the samples that they were working with remained pure and free of any contamination.

The........

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