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48 The PCB Magazine • October 2016 by Steve Williams THE RIGHT APPROACH CONSULTING LLC My Leadership Journey FEATURE COLUMN: THE RIGHT APPROACH Introduction I have been in leadership positions for the majority of my 40-year career, but it has not al- ways been a smooth and natural relationship. With the following three stories, I will attempt to share the lessons learned on my journey as a lifelong student in pursuit of the art of leader- ship. Lesson One: Work Ethic I believe the foundation of leadership is formed by a person's work ethic; their belief in the moral benefit and importance of work and its inherent ability to strengthen character. The traits of a strong work ethic are the very same traits of a strong leader: professionalism, respectfulness, dependability, dedication, deter- mination, accountability, and humility. A great leader embodies each of these traits and encour- ages others to embrace them as part of the con- tinual development process. I am so very lucky to have such positive role models in my parents, which is where my work ethic foundation was formed at an early age. Our family owned a PCB manufacturing shop, and before I was old enough to work there full- time, I would spend afternoons after work tak- ing out garbage and cleaning toilets. Remember the humility trait? Well, nothing is more hum- bling and character building then cleaning toi- lets every afternoon. Of course, working in the business would become my first full-time job af- ter escaping high school. This is where I learned my first lesson. What I have found is that peo- ple in this position, children of the owners, have two paths they can take. The first path is where they embrace the privileged role of being the owner's kid and all of the perks that come along with that. Or the second path, the one I chose, is to work harder than everyone else so that there was no doubt which path I had cho- sen. The collateral benefit from this work ethic