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74 SMT Magazine • October 2016 by Stephen Las Marias I-CONNECT007 Knoll Evangelista, director of the EMS Com- ponents and Group Operations of Laguna, Phil- ippines-based electronics manufacturing servic- es firm EMS Components Assembly Inc., speaks with SMT Magazine about leadership, motiva- tion, and how great leaders navigate the chal- lenges to bring their companies to success. Stephen Las Marias: What makes a great leader? Knoll Evangelista: A great leader is someone who embraces technology and innovation, a game changer, a benevolent disruptor, and has the passion to make things happen. A great leader is a composite of a person that gets an organization to work on an objective, and gets to deliver results and achieve the desired out - comes. He has the capability to change, lead, and discover new ideas of an organization that works. Las Marias: What can you say about the changing roles of the leader in this industry? Evangelista: Technology has been the main- stream driving economy of a country. In the electronics industry, once a technology is dis- covered, consider it obsolete; if you will not de- velop new technology, somebody else will. This is how fast the industry changes. Getting ahead and the niche of the market will drive growth and sustainability. Leaders with vision that em- brace technology with readiness to future capa- bilities will always succeed. Las Marias: What is the difference between being a leader and a manager? Evangelista: We need more leaders than manag- ers. Leaders see things at 60,000 feet and are al- ways there ahead. A leader looks forward to in- novate, adopts changes and makes things work while a manager focuses on day-to-day activity. Leaders are strategists while managers execute. Leaders deal with strategic issues while man- agers deal with the tactical ones. Leaders for- mulate strategies for growth and sustainability and have a wide vision of the horizon for what the future will be, while managers execute to achieve goals and objectives. The Make-up of a GREAT LEADER FEATURE INTERVIEW Knoll Evangelista