4 Traits I’d Hire for Ahead of Intelligence

Is attracting and hiring smart people over-rated? Heck no! A company, team, committee, or board can’t have too much intelligence among team members. Smart people develop smart ideas and, after all, those really are the best kind of ideas. It’s just that there are some other characteristics I’d like to make sure are present in the fellow travelers I want to work with. In fact, there are 4 traits I’d hire for ahead of intelligence if I were creating a new team today.

“I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.”

– Socrates

Now it could be that I’m being a bit deceptive in the offering of this list. Why? Because we don’t (yet) have a definitive way of measuring for intelligence. Even defining intelligence and aligning on what makes a smart person is harder than it sounds. As such, some may be dubious that I’ve done something other than just describe an intelligent person using different terms. So, to be clear, when I refer to intelligence I’m referring to the characteristic that smart people possess and might be best summarized by the following definition from Merriam-Webster:

“the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one’s environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (such as tests)”

Certainly, there are other valid definitions for intelligence but this one seems to capture the essence of the trait I think of when I think about what makes someone smart. Smart is good. Smart gets one farther than stupid can. But, for me, it isn’t enough to bring about great deeds. Intelligence gets us on the playing field, but it is far from enough to guarantee victory.

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.”

– Fyodor Dostoevsky

4 Traits I’d Hire for Ahead of Intelligence

1.Resiliency

Failure is inevitable. We all experience it. It’s what happens after the failure that really matters. Resilient people (1) learn from their failures, and (2) summon the courage to try again. I sometimes wonder if we confuse “resiliency” with “invincibility”. I don’t believe we should assume that resilient people are successful because they are somehow immune to experiencing bad outcomes. To the contrary – resilient people are successful precisely because they experience bad outcomes but are able to persevere none the less.

I’m a fan of the television series “Alone”. The gist of the show is that ten people are deposited individually into remote wilderness areas with limited equipment and supplies. Each person has a satellite phone they can use to “tap out” at any time. The person who makes it the longest, wins. I’m fascinated by the show for two reasons. One, because the act of boiling life down to daily survival seems like an amazing experience. And two, I’m positive I might last one night before I’d summon the rescuers to come get me. All of the contestants seem to have excellent survival skills (hunting, fishing, building, foraging). It seems to me that resiliency is the number one differentiator between the winner and everyone else.

Fortunately, we don’t need to spend time alone in an unforgiving wilderness setting to experience the power of resiliency. During my career, I observed time and again how resiliency predicted future success in the corporate world. Those who sought to produce a perfect analysis or flawless executive presentation on their first attempt were more likely than not to experience a bad outcome despite their efforts. In addition, they also seemed to have a more difficult time getting back up on the “bike” to have another try. I found myself falling into this trap on more than one occasion. A resilient approach may still lead to the initial bad outcome; but it also provides the determination and courage required to learn and do better the next time. Striving for great, but acknowledging that the good, the bad, and the ugly will all by experienced along the way is crucial.

2.Empathy

“There is zero correlation between IQ and emotional empathy… They’re controlled by different parts of the brain.”

– Daniel Goleman, author, psychologist, science journalist

We’ve all likely heard the idiom, “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.” It’s an appropriate, if outdated, reminder to practice empathy. To experience empathy is to truly acknowledge another person’s feeling and fully consider what they are going through. Empathy is different than sympathy. To feel sympathy is to feel sorry for someone. Sympathy is more about expressing pity than understanding.

Why is empathy an important trait to look for when adding a teammate? It’s more likely that the empathetic person will be able to relate to problems and therefor create more comprehensive solutions. Whether the problem is one facing teammates, customers, or society at large, it’s been my experience that empathetic people find more creative, holistic ways to solve the problem at hand.

Searching for empathy in potential leaders is even more critical. If a leader is incapable of relating to the challenges and obstacles that their team or customers face, how will they be able to fully consider reasonable options before making a decision? This isn’t to say that real-world decisions based on hard numbers don’t need to be made. They often do. However, an empathetic leader will be aware of the potential impacts their decisions will have on people and will be more prepared to mitigate those impacts.

In my twenty-four years of managing people, I learned that it is possible to be both direct and compassionate when helping people improve their performance. An honest, direct performance appraisal done in a way that is clear but not condescending goes a long way in actually helping the receiver to make positive changes. The secret for me is to practice empathy. “Treat others as you would like to be treated” isn’t The Golden Rule for no reason!

3.Committment

Being committed means being willing to devote our time and energy to something or someone. It may be an overly simplistic definition but it captures the spirit of the trait I have in mind. Working with people that are genuinely committed to a team or an endeavor is energizing. I’m not talking about mindless devotion to a cause or ideology. I’m talking about self-motivated engagement directed at helping a team achieve great things.

A sure sign that a person is able to commit to something is their ability and desire to solve gnarly problems. In a previous post, I wrote about some key ways to be successful at work. Work and life present all manner of challenges. People who can take on these challenges and see them through to resolution bring success to themselves and their teams.

Commitment and resiliency go hand in hand. People who possess both characteristics bring a steadfastness to work and life that is impossible to fake.

4.Vulnerability

Vulnerability can be an uncomfortable word that summons images of frailty and fear. When I think about this trait, I don’t think about weakness or fragility. Instead, I envision strength. Strength to demonstrate courage in the face of long odds or poor outcomes. In this context, to be vulnerable is to set aside things like pride and ego for the greater good. It’s to assume responsibility for results and dedicate energy to improving them moving forward.

Managers and leaders make mistakes just like everybody else. Teams are more likely to learn from mistakes when everyone, including managers, are open and honest about things that don’t go according to plan. Trust grows when this happens. Conversely, managers create mistrust when behaviors like hiding mistakes or pushing blame to other parts of the organization occur. Vulnerability as a strength is showing up more frequently on lists of management best practices, and this is a good thing.

Taken together, empathy and vulnerability make for a more self-aware individual. It’s a powerful combination that allows for issues and problems to be identified and resolved much more quickly in teams that have these core strengths among it’s members.

A Winning Combination

Obviously, I believe that these 4 traits I’d hire for ahead of intelligence are important. In reality, its difficult to find individuals who bring strength across all four areas…and are intelligent to boot! In my experience, the best approach to team building is to seek balance. Already have a team of people who bring smarts, resiliency and commitment but are light on empathy and vulnerability? Consider prioritizing those traits in the next selection process. Ok, but how in the heck do you identify people who bring resiliency, empathy, commitment, and vulnerability? It seems much more straight-forward to find smart people.

What I’ve found to be effective is to ask candidates to describe their behavior and actions in response to specific situations from their past. Some refer to this method as Behavioral Interviewing. For example, when looking for someone who exhibits resiliency, we might ask: “Please tell me about a time when you had to sell an idea to multiple leaders in order for it to be implemented.” Is the candidate able to describe a process by which they accepted and acted on feedback, some of it tough, to improve and harden their proposal? Or do their examples all tell tales of immediate success?

Seeking to add vulnerability to your team? Try asking: “Please tell me about a time when you were part of a project or team that had a poor outcome. What did you do next?” Is the candidate able to describe ownership, accountability, and learning coming out of a complicated situation? Or, do they struggle to describe such a similar situation or deflect accountability?

Hopefully you agree that building a team with smart people is great, but building a team with smart, resilient, empathetic, committed, and vulnerable people makes for a truly winning combination.

What are your experiences in building a well-balanced, high performing team?

Written by: A Reed Reviewed by: B Holman