Some businesses and business professionals are driven by either a deep desire to “do well”…. succeed, make money, achieve fame, gain power, etc. Others are driven to “do good”… help the needy, make the world a better place, solve major problems, etc. Those may seem like opposites pulling in different directions. One is self-focused – Me, Me, Me — and one is other-centered – My, My, My (planet, community, country, people). But perhaps those two motivations don’t have to be at odds. Maybe they can actually fuel one another in a virtuous cycle. Some business are doing just that; letting their “My” elevate their “Me”.

Here’s how. Continue reading →

“Let’s hire someone who is highly neurotic” said no hiring manager ever. If openness and conscientiousness are the areas of personality for which people want to score on the high end of the spectrum, then neuroticism is the area of personality for which people want to be on the low end. This is the area of personality that reflects the extent to which someone experiences negative emotions including fear, sadness, anxiety, guilt, and shame. But it is a term that is misunderstood. Like all areas of personality, each person’s personality falls somewhere on the neuroticism spectrum. In that sense, we are a little more or a little less neurotic. And like all other areas, there are jobs that are better suited for those who are more, or less, neurotic.

Before your next hire, it helps to understand neuroticism. Continue reading →

Are you open to new experiences? Open to change? Open to new ideas? Being “open” or “open-minded” seems about as positive a trait as a person can demonstrate. No one brags about being “closed.” Closed-minded. Closed off to relationships. Closed to innovation. And yet – like all aspects of personality – openness exists on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum are those people who are analytical and like routine. On the other end are those who embrace creativity, change and experimentation. Some people are just more open than others. So should that affect hiring? When it comes to openness, finding the right person for the job requires understanding the job and the applicant. Continue reading →

Some think that if something is good, twice as much of it is twice as good. But when it comes to personality traits, this is not necessarily true. Personality traits all exist on a scale, with the trait manifesting from very little to a whole lot on a spectrum. Often, being on either end of that spectrum can be problematic. In the hiring process, it helps to know how the skills and demands of the job fit with personality, and hire the person with the personality traits that best fit the job. That’s true even for a positive trait such as conscientiousness.

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It makes sense that every employer wants to hire people who are agreeable. Agreeableness, after all, is a good thing. Agreeableness plays a huge part in how well people get along with clients, colleagues, vendors, managers and coworkers. So, it stands to reason that employers would want to only hire people who are highly agreeable. Right? Not so fast. It is not always good to hire highly agreeable people. Like all aspects of personality, agreeableness is a scale and it affects how effective people are at their jobs. So how agreeable do we want coworkers to be, and is it the same for everyone in every job? Why would anyone want coworkers who are less agreeable? Here’s the scoop on agreeableness.

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While most people know a little about personality types, the nuances may not be crystal clear. But this is something everyone should understand. Why? First, each person should know their own personality traits. It can mean the difference between being stuck doing a job that is draining and uninspiring and doing one that energizes and excites. Second, everyone should be able to spot what personality traits others possess, especially at work. For companies, understanding and hiring for personality can transform an organization with skyrocketing turnover to one with hand-in-glove staffing. Let’s look at one of the five major personality traits – introversion/extroversion.

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At job interviews, hiring managers will invariably ask the question meant to reveal some serious weakness in the candidate: what is your biggest flaw? And, too often, candidates will reply that they are perfectionists. But is being a perfectionist really a flaw, or is it a quality, or – as used in an interview — a flaw that most people this is a quality? Is being a perfectionist a flaw? And this brings up an interesting question. When it comes to work product, what should the measure of quality be? Perfect? Close to perfect? Good enough? How are these terms even measured? Can any work product be “perfect”? And, if not, what is a perfectionist to do? Let’s debunk some of the false narratives surrounding perfect work and perfectionists.
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According to the Stanford-Binet scale, the normal IQ for most people ranges from 85-115. Those with IQs from 115-134 are gifted, from 134-145 are highly gifted, and over 145 are near-genius or genius. But only about 1% of people globally have an IQ above 135, and less than ¼ of 1% have an IQ above 145. Fortunately, a business needn’t employ geniuses to succeed. As Ken Blanchard, author of the One Minute Manager, said “none of us is as smart as all of us.” Genius is amplified in the collective. That’s why a leader’s entire purpose is to get a diverse group work together toward a common goal. Let’s look at the conditions needed for teamwork.

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Across the board, entrepreneurs all agree that teamwork is critical in business. As the saying goes, if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. That attests to the power of teamwork. Teamwork fuels creativity, offers diverse perspectives, leverages each person’s skills for their highest and best use, increases cohesion and cooperation, raises the bar on drive and self-management, and hyper-inflates problem-solving. A manager who increases teamwork and is able to make a diverse group work together toward a common goal is a true leader. That is the definition. So how do you get a bunch of diverse people to function as a team?
Here’s how. Continue reading →

Ever wonder why managers and leaders constantly push for people to work together as a team? The ability to work well with others toward a common goal is what most every company wants from its employees. But just how important is teamwork in business? Is a team more efficient and effective than each person just doing their part individually? And what’s in it for the individual employees? Even if teamwork is significantly better for the organization, does it benefit individual employees at all? Is being part of a team good for both the company and its workers?

Here’s why teamwork really matters in business. Continue reading →