Critical Attributes of the Successful

 Article by Dr. John E. Kello

As I reflect on my experience working with a number of extraordinarily talented individuals, I offer the following skill sets as distinctive of the leaders in their fields -- descriptive of the kinds of top- notch associates (senior leaders, supervisors, team leaders, individual contributors) you want to work with.

Cognitive skills. Successful people tend to be generally pretty smart. Their intelligence may be the conventional “book smarts” measured by IQ tests, or cleverness and creativity, or political acumen/”street smarts,” or a combination of the above. Whatever form their intelligence takes, they are savvy, quick, interested, thoughtful, inquisitive people. They want to know more and to get better at the things they do.

Successful people tend to develop and use their cognitive abilities to become good problem solvers and decision-makers. While they can certainly make mistakes (they are, after all, human), they are right much more often than they are wrong. They read and watch and listen, and take in the world around themselves. They store their experiences and learn from them. To use the jargon, they are mindful. They are able to think both strategically (long term) and tactically (focused on the here and now), as needed. They generally get the right answer and do the right thing.

Self-management skills. Successful people tend to plan and be organized. They identify goals, create (and follow) steps to achieve those goals, and keep track of their progress towards those goals. They are able to delay gratification, and to make short-term sacrifices (e.g., work through the weekend to meet an important deadline rather than take the weekend off and miss the deadline) in service of longer- term gains. In short, they have self-discipline. They deliver on commitments. They are dependable. I would add that they are honest and ethical.  A facet of their self-management is personal integrity. They don’t cheat, even if they might get away with it.

Drive: Successful people are active, energetic, “big motor” types. You don’t have to worry about how to get them going. They are self-starters. They are focused and relentless in the pursuit of their own goals and the broader goals of organizational effectiveness.

Relationship skills. Successful people are generally good with others. They tend to be good communicators, not only in terms of clear and persuasive speaking, but also in terms of listening. They are influencers. They are prone to keep others in the know, appropriately. It is impossible to overstate the value of good communication skills.

Successful people are strong in the area of emotional intelligence (EQ), being aware of their impact on others, reading others’ nonverbal signals, etc. They are not hard for others to read. They do not send confusing mixed verbal/ nonverbal messages. They do not let their own emotion get the better of them; no meltdowns. They are stable and steady, and in the best sense, predictable. They inspire trust.

They may genuinely like people, but whether that is their natural bent or not, they are skillful at building and maintaining close relationships. They are team-oriented, comfortably providing leadership and direction (whether they are the formal, oppositional leader or not), and just as comfortably working collaboratively as a member of the group, following the lead of others.

They tend to be generous with their knowledge, and are prone to speak up and actively coach and help others. They go beyond the mere requirements of their role, looking for ways to be helpful to others.

They also tend to be generous in giving deserved credit to others, and careful in giving negative/corrective feedback, when necessary, in ways that are supportive, not demeaning to others.

Of all the traits identified here, the relationship skills, starting with communication, may be most crucial. These skills can compensate to some extent for lower horsepower in any of the other skill sets. Thus, I don’t need to be the smartest guy in the room if I can find the smartest people and have them on my team, committed to working with me.

Flexibility and adaptability. Successful people tend to be better at handling change than less successful counterparts. In addition to accepting and adapting to change, they may even initiate constructive change for themselves. They may be as happy as anyone else with a stable and predictable work environment (when such exists), but they are not unduly upset by the reality of unrelenting change. They adjust and move forward. They behave adaptively.

Resilience and optimism. Successful people are adept at framing failure or disappointment in ways that are motivating rather than devastating. When things go wrong they don’t spend a lot of time feeling sorry for themselves or looking for others (or cruel fate) to blame. Rather, they tend to own the problem, fix it, and make sure not to repeat that one again. They spend more time moving forward than ruminating on mistakes of the past. To use a favorite phrase of mine, “big windshield, small rearview mirror.” They are sure that better things lie just ahead, and as that attitude underlies positive self-fulfilling prophesies, they are usually right. Their “self-talk” (we all do it) tends to be more positive (“You can do this!”) than negative (“Oh no, you really screwed it up this time!”).    

Depth and breadth. Successful people tend to be deeply engaged in a few areas of expertise. Some stop there. But others combine great depth of expertise with breadth of interest and focus. I have borrowed from other writers the term and the concept “deep generalist.” I know that some authors tilt strongly towards depth alone. Still, many of the successful experts I have worked with are not just on a single track. They combine deep expertise in a few areas with broad interest in other areas, and sometimes a great number of them.

So, are the most successful among us born that way, or are these attributes learned?

As with any psychological/behavioral characteristic, the attributes identified here result from an interaction of heredity and environment. Some successful people mostly have it in their DNA (lucky them). But whatever gifts come with the genetic wiring, mindful experience combined with focused effort can enhance those gifts to their highest level. Indeed, even if nature has not been overly generous with laying the foundation for these attributes of success, all of us can build muscle in any of these areas.

Obviously, technical expertise and job knowledge are also important for success in the world of work. I would not minimize them. The work of any professional requires a great deal of technical know-how. But the most technically adept are not automatically the most successful. The personal qualities of competence outlined here are the great multipliers of technical ability. They are the difference makers, other things equal, in contributing to organizational effectiveness.