Omni Engineering & Technology Inc.

•	General Leadership Qualities
•	The Seven Essentials of Blueprint Firms
•	Improving Performance through Effective Employee Ownership
•	Motivated Performances

What Makes a Good Leader?

The U.S. Army War College had soldiers anonymously rank highly regarded major generals in Iraq asking, "What makes a good leader?" The responses did not rank tactical and technical competence at the top, but rather focused on interpersonal skills. The responses, in order of importance were:

• Keeps cool under pressure
• Clearly explains missions, standards and priorities
• Sees the big picture; provides context and perspective
• Makes tough, sound decisions on time

Additional valued qualities included:

• Adapts quickly to new situations; can handle bad news
• Gives useful feedback; sets a high ethical tone
• Is positive, encouraging and realistically optimistic

One of the study's authors, retired Gen. Walter Ulmer noted, "One thing we found is that it's still easier to teach technical skills than to teach people how to gain trust and build teams." That is an important lesson for any industry leader.

Source: Lyric Wallwork Winik, "What Makes A Good Leader?" Parade Magazine, July 10, 2005.

Still Working on that Blueprint...?

Former technology executive and management consultant David Thomson coined the term Blueprint companies to define startup firms that reach annual revenues of a billion dollars. He reverse-engineered the success of 387 public companies with annual revenues of at least $1 billion and asserts that these successful firms share seven key traits:

1. Create and sustain a breakthrough value proposition.
2. Exploit a high-growth market.
3. Focus relentlessly on cash flow.
4. Leverage big brother alliances to break into new markets.
5. Pack their board with industry experts.
6. Use blue-chip customers to gain credibility.
7. Build an inside-outside leadership team.

Refer to Mr. Thomson's website at www.blueprinttoabillion.com or his best-selling book Blueprint to a Billion for more details.

Source: Richard McGill Murphy, "Zero to $1 Billion." Fortune Small Business, May 2006.

Employee Ownership and Performance

In 2004, The National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), co-created the Committee for Effective Employee Ownership (CEEO). Best-Practices Principles for Effective Employee Ownership is one of CEEO's first efforts suggesting improved performance through employee ownership. The article establishes the following 10 key principles regarding cause and effect relationships between equity allocation and corporate performance (rather than theoretical or intuitive judgments):

1. Effective equity compensation strategy is driven by empirical data rather than theory, assumptions, and doing what other companies do.
2. Effective equity compensation allocates equity between executive, management, and non-management employees fairly and in a broad-based manner.
3. Broad-based equity plans should generally provide equity to a majority of full-time employees.
4. Effective ownership in public companies should be determined by an independent committee using rigorous established guidlines.
5. Companies should provide for diversified retirement opportunities as well as company equity ownership.
6. Public companies should provide adequate disclosure to investors and employees about equity plans.
7. In public companies, equity plans should also be fair to shareholders.
8. Governance and procedural practices should be established and clearly communicated.
9. Communications and education are essential and often underemphasized elements of an effective equity plan.
10. Creating and maintaining an ownership culture requires meaningful employee involvement in work-level issues.

Source: www.nceo.org, 2005.

On a Scale of 1 to 10, Do the Results of Your Work Suggest Well Prepared and Motivated Performance?

In the April 1999 issue of Contact Kids magazine, Susan Brody reported on record-breaking performance in sports. If there was a scoring system for the work you do, where do you think your score for today’s performance would be in comparison to the best score in your field? Do you match the best of breed? What’s stopping you?