Ask the Expert columnist Larry Fast enjoyed a 35-year career in manufacturing. Here's his list of the key characteristics of leaders who helped him along the way.
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The best leaders: (1.) Have a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo. Not sometimes. All times. (2.) Are relentless in their quest for continuous improvement and expect the same from everyone. This trait will sort out the doers from the pretenders.
(3.) Have high expectations and hold people accountable for results. See No. 2 above. (4.) Have a vision of excellence that is communicated broadly and frequently. (5.) Communicate a clear priority set. This kind of prioritization by leadership clears the way to hold people accountable for doing the right things -- which will move the needle on the company’s most important business objectives. (6.) Don’t pass the buck when there is bad news. If it happened on our watch as leaders, we own it. (7.) Run to the problems and deal with them. (8.) See opportunities others don’t. This is often why leaders are in their leadership roles and others aren’t. Engineers and maintenance people are often great examples to observe as well. They’re always trying to understand how things work and why. It’s in their DNA. (9.) Are the ones who care the most and make everyone around them better. Leaders are always under observation. Are they fully competent? (10.) Know when it’s time to tell someone goodbye.