What makes a chief?

Alright, we've all been there . . . doing the grunt work on a crew at a meet. There is someone else in charge, the crew chief. What makes him or her special?


What are the qualities that make a crew chief? Is it personality? Knowledge of the rules? Charisma? Something else, or a combination of things? And if so, what things?

Let's talk about what makes good, and not so good, crew chiefs. Please, no names or other ways of identifying who they are ("At the 2004 Trials in the discus . . ."). If we can identify what are the good and bad traits of crew chiefs, then we can begin preparing the next generation of leaders in our officials ranks.