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INDUSTRY OUTLOOK 32 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY WHAT MAKES FOR GOOD LEADERSHIP? It's the ability to speak multiple "languages" — customer, management, manufacturer, regulator — that sets an effective aircra maintenance leader apart from the pack. Several MROs describe what they look for and how they go about developing leaders. By Jerome Greer Chandler GREG SAHR, president of Elliott Aviation, says, "We really hire for values and character — and, of course, someone with adequate technical knowledge." ELLIOTT AVIATION IT'S THE INDISPENSABLE INGREDIENT TO success in this business. If an MRO company has it, they can soar. If it doesn't, sooner or later they'll shut the hangar door. AMT interviewed a quartet of leaders at a like number of successful MROs, people whose job it is to recognize talent and develop it. What we dis- covered is a common perception as to what makes for good leadership. THE ESSENTIAL SKILLS "We really hire for values and character — and, of course, someone with adequate technical knowl- edge," says Greg Sahr, president of family owned, Moline, IL-based bizjet MRO Elliott Aviation. That last element — technical prowess — is important. Someone who's worked their way up through the ranks is preferable. Such a path begets "under- standing and empathy with the technician," says Sahr. And that, in turn, breeds a special species of credibility that's born from having been there and done that. Sahr's situation is pretty typical among MRO leaders of all ranks. He started off in the business as an avionics installation technician and worked his way up the ladder. "We have people who started out with us as apprentice techs and are now managers and direc- tors within the company," says Amy Henrichsen, vice president people at Seattle-based Aviation Technical Services, one of the largest third-party transport category MROs in North America. "It's essential that [prospective leaders] have a good understanding of the technical aspects" of MRO, says Wayne Jamroz, vice president of operations for AAR Aircraft Services. Jamroz oper-