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Former Carstar CEO reveals common leadership traits at ASRW keynote
you can’t make it happen, it’s not worth a
darn,” he said. “Nothing happens if it
can’t be executed.”
A company’s vision should consist of
its core values and purpose, or reason for
existence, he said. “The strongest
business is about doing something to
help people.”
Cross said that “if a strategy is clear,
execution becomes clear,” emphasizing
that strategy must be adapted to market
conditions.
When planning, instead of looking at a
“You can think all you
want to, but if you can’t
make it happen, it’s not
worth a darn. Nothing
happens if it can’t be
executed.”
12-month strategy, he urged the audience
to look at 12-week business plans — and
to devote 20 minutes a day, three days a
week, to focusing on the business plan.
CEOs must possess patience and “go
slow to go fast,” he said, adding that
kindness extended will multiply in its
return.
“Expect people to be good,” he said.
“What you expect is what you’ll get.”
Patience and kindness are two of the
nine key traits great leaders possess, he
said; the others are generosity, courtesy,
humility, unselfishness, good humor,
guilelessness, and sincerity. n
Dick Cross opens ASRW 2012 with his
keynote address on traits of great leaders.
by Michael Anderson
New Orleans—Leadership is what
differentiates good companies from the
great ones. Those who run great
companies possess two key traits:
thinking ability and character, said Dick
Cross, during the keynote address at
Automotive Service Repair Week
(ASRW), Oct. 11, at the New Orleans
Convention Center.
ASRW, hosted annually by the
Automotive Service Association (ASA),
includes the International Autobody
Conference & Exposition (NACE) and
the Congress of Auto Repair & Service
(CARS).
Cross, who began his career as a
technician, shared his experiences as
CEO of several organizations, including
Carstar, and in his current role as
consultant with The Cross Partnership
Ltd., applying them to the question: How
do you run a business?
The job for the individual at the top of
a company is to think, Cross said. “For
most of us, thinking is the hardest thing
we have to do,” he said.
For all the thinking that’s done,
however, there have to be people to carry
out the plan, he said. “Character is what
gets people to help you.” Two things that
help foster employee loyalty, he said, are
helping someone overcome a fear and
helping them feel better about
themselves.
In order to think as a CEO, Cross said,
a basic framework needs to be followed,
likening it to a trifocal lens: vision,
strategy, and execution. There is a
distinction between the steps, he said,
stressing that leadership occurs between
vision and strategy, and management
between strategy and execution.
“You can think all you want to, but if
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Parts & People December 2012 Page 23