February 17th, 2009 | by A Guest

This is a question asked by many managers looking to improve the atmosphere in their companies. It should also be a question that workers ask themselves as being a leader in your work group is often your key to moving up the corporate ladder.

So what makes a great leader?

Over the course of my military service I served under five different officers. Seven years later there is one of them that I would still stand, salute & follow his orders with no questions asked. When I think of leadership this is the man I think of. He exemplified the qualities & attitudes he asked from us, fully understood and empathized with what we were doing, was always working harder and longer than we were, and always took our side in a conflict. Now we’re talking here about business leadership, not military, so let me explain each of these points.

1. He exemplified the qualities & attitudes he asked from us. We knew that he was someone who would never show up late or not finish an assignment. If he did it it would be to the best standard he knew. This then became our model and our standard of quality.
2. He understood and empathized with what we were doing. Obviously we had different jobs than he did and we probably did those jobs better than he would have. Even so, he took the time to understand what we were doing and why it was so challenging. We knew there was empathy and if we had a problem he would understand the essence if not the details. This allowed us to have confidence that when he gave us an assignment it was fair. We knew that the assignment was given to us by someone who understood the task and had confidence that we could succeed.
3. He always worked longer and harder than we did. We knew that if there was a late night, whether it was fixing trucks or doing paperwork, he wouldn’t leave us and go to sleep. Either he had his own work to do (often continuing well past when we finished) or he’d come and pitch in so that we could all go to sleep.
4. He always backed us up. When someone from a different division complains about “one of yours” you should defend them. This earns you their trust. That’s not to say don’t correct a worker who erred, but that should be your job not Bob-the-VP’s job.

Seven years later I would still trust that officer with my life.

I learned these ideas in the army. Try them out in your business. Be a model. Understand your subordinates. Support your workers (and co-workers) to the best of your ability.

• A leader sets standards.
• A leader knows his people.
• A leader is an example.
• A leader gives back to his people.

This guest post was written Yosef Sukenik. Yosef is an Industrial Engineer. Industrial Engineering is a set of tools that helps you make better decisions in whatever you do. Yosef is currently applying his skill set to the world of PR & fundraising with the Puah Institute.

Image Credit: .Jennifer Leigh.

Tags: being a leader, business leadership, confidence, corporate ladder, goals, jobs, military service

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Relationships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.