Yesterday I attended the inaugural PlantLeadership forum, put on by Carl Howk at PlantSuccess. There were around 30 of us, and every one of us had senior leadership experience in the process industries. Plant managers, chief engineers, etc. Even I had senior leadership experience-- albeit in vendor companies rather than operating plants.
The interesting thing was the near unanimity about the important attributes of leaders. "Leaders are force multipliers," one attendee said. "They are like a great point guard-- always setting up the play for other players to score,"
Leaders are creative and inventive.
Leaders are supportive. They coach, mentor and, well, they lead.
Leaders are good managers. Not all managers are leaders.
Leaders are grown, not born.
