Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Mark Toro, managing partner and chairman ofNorth American Properties — Atlanta Ltd. To read the complete interview, check out other articles, and obtain subscription information, please click here.

Photo credit: Earl Wilson/The New York Times

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Were you in leadership roles when you were younger?

One of the sayings my father would repeat when I was younger was “Always be a leader, never be a follower.” I think it was intended to keep me out of trouble — it wasn’t entirely successful — but it led me into leadership roles at a relatively early age.

I remember being the crossing guard in third grade. And in high school I played several sports, and I was often captain or co-captain of every team I was on. It wasn’t because I was a gifted athlete, because I wasn’t all that good. I just hustled, and I always felt that urge to be in front. There’s that saying that great leaders don’t make more followers; they make more leaders.

And tell me more about your parents.

My dad was a mechanical engineer and spent much of his career building large plants. As a teenager, whenever there was a break from school, I was on one of his job sites working where they needed help.

I learned a lot about project management from the laborer’s perspective, including literally digging ditches. I would watch the foreman, the superintendent, the project manager, the project executive. And I would have conversations with my dad at the dinner table or in the car on the way to work, with me asking him questions about the project. It was a great opportunity.

My mom was an entrepreneur; she ran her own business as a headhunter for engineers. She was a really hard worker — raised three kids and worked full time. They both instilled the work ethic in us at a very early age.

Any other expressions they would repeat often around the dinner table?

My father had another great saying: “You worry about the wrong things.” It was kind of his version of “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” There are very important things in life, so let’s spend our time on things that are relevant and consequential to the mission, whatever your mission is, as opposed to all the other noise that’s out there, because there’s lots of noise.

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To read the complete interview as well as Bryant’s interviews of other executives, please click here.

Adam Bryant, deputy national editor of The New York Times, oversees coverage of education issues, military affairs, law, and works with reporters in many of the Times’ domestic bureaus. He also conducts interviews with CEOs and other leaders for Corner Office, a weekly feature in the SundayBusiness section and on nytimes.com that he started in March 2009. In his book, The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed, (Times Books), he analyzes the broader lessons that emerge from his interviews of hundreds of business leaders. To read an excerpt, please click here. To contact him, please click here.