The best people I've worked with have one thing in common: they don't ask whose problem it…

The best people I've worked with have one thing in common: they don't ask whose problem it is. Having worked with teams around the globe and many different colleagues, there are always a few people who really stand out as leaders and decision makers. What makes them different? They take ownership. They own their tasks, their problems and their performance. They don't look for someone else to blame when things go wrong. They stand up for both their successes and their failures. And perhaps even more importantly, they create the same culture in their teams. They let their teams communicate when things are going badly — but also make sure the team gets recognition when things are going well. They don't take the credit and distribute the blame. They do the opposite. They lead by example, make decisions and take responsibility for the outcome. You don't need "manager" or "leader" in your title to behave this way. Some of my own "heroes" in the organizations I've worked with have been engineers. Others have been managers. Their titles and roles were different, but their attitude was the same. They took ownership. To me, ownership is one of the clearest signs of leadership. See a problem. Own it. Do something about it. I once was leading an engineering team in Shenzhen PR China, brilliant and one of the best ones so far!