Qualities for Career Success
There are nine personal qualities that will each improve the chance of career success for anyone, on any career path. Any of these qualities can be cultivated individually. When all nine are combined, you have an unbeatable formula for career success.
Presidential opinion differs on which of the nine qualities is most important. ‘Silent Cal’ Coolidge says it’s persistence; ‘Bully’ Teddy Roosevelt, predictably, votes for affability.
Persistence
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.“Calvin Coolidge
This sentiment is not surprising from a man who made it all the way to President by representing ‘the genius of the average’. Dynamite is one way to break rock, but the Grand Canyon is a result of constant, unrelenting erosion by water. Whatever else you’ve got or haven’t got, the ability to 'keep on keeping on' means you are never out of the game.
Affability
“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”Theodore Roosevelt
Affable people are not necessarily garrulous, but they are easy to approach and talk to, and are at ease approaching and talking to others. ‘Others’ means everybody; from the CEO, to your competitors, to the people who clean your building and run the parking deck. It also includes long-distance connections; affability by phone and email is as critical as it is in person. Being affable with the person who screens the big guy or gal's calls and emails is just as important-maybe more important-than being affable with the big guy or gal. Knowledge is power, and the more people there are who are willing to share theirs with you, the better off you will be. Entrée-a fancy French word for your foot in the door-is also exponentially increased by your affability.
The next two important career qualities, vision and humility, may seem diametrically opposed at first blush, but really, they are siblings. Both have to do with you, and your relationship to your career universe. Isaac Newton and Steve Jobs are separated by centuries, but both get the dual nature of vision and humility.
Vision
“I want to put a ding in the universe.”Steve Jobs
Your career is not just about your next promotion; in fact, it’s not even just about you. It’s about you in a universe of people, places, and things, and of opportunities as well as responsibilities. Those incremental personal steps are important, but don’t make the mistake of paying too much attention to your feet, and failing to look up. The sky is where stars twinkle, shine, and shoot; choose your own style for dinging the universe of your profession.
Humility
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”Isaac Newton
Newton knew that in addition to himself and the stars, there were other people in the universe, and he knew where he stood relative to those other people. Most think of humility as submissiveness or meekness, but really, it means that you think that other people are every bit as important as yourself. For people in philanthropic or service lines of work, this will be a no-brainer. If it seems counter-intuitive to those of you in highly technical or cut-throat fields...think about it. No matter how great you are at what you do, none of us is perfect, or entire. There will always be others in our career universe who can complement a gap in our own arsenal, or who will owe us one if we can complement a gap in theirs without making them feel resentful about it.
The next two crucial career qualities are physical ones…metaphorically speaking.
Guts
"If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all."Elizabeth I
Career success is not for the faint of heart; you will be called upon to take risks and leaps of faith along the way. Sometimes, there will be a safety net under you, and it won’t be so hard. Other times, there will be no net, and you are going to go ‘boom’. But it’s not the end of the world if you have the next vital career quality.
Granite Chin
“Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.”Marilyn vos Savant
You shouldn’t volunteer to take it on the chin, and you don’t have to like it. When you have to do it, though, it is to your advantage to take it gracefully, and make the best you can out of it; this is a surefire way to earn respect in the long run. What doesn’t kill you, as they say, ultimately makes you stronger.
The next pair of career enhancers, adaptability and creativity, have to do with your attitude toward change; change, in any field of endeavor, is inevitable.
Adaptability
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."Charles Darwin
To keep the boxing metaphor going for just another moment, adaptability is what is known as rolling with the punches. Rolling with the punches does two things; it protects you from injury and it propels you in a different direction. Career mobility should generally be upward, but sometimes a step sideways, or even a step back, is the wiser course. Being adaptable will help you cope with and even take advantage of unexpected changes in trajectory.
Creativity
"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking."George S. Patton
You don’t have to be in an artistic field of endeavor to need creativity. The ability to solve a difficult problem from inside your head out, instead of taking the ‘same old’ that’s outside your head and drinking it in, sets you apart from the rest.
The final quality on the list of career essentials is timing.
Timing
“We are all in the right place at the right time, if we are aware of it.”Judi Sheppard Missett
Knowing how to choose your time for big moves is important, but career success isn’t just a matter of outsmarting or manipulating time.
Instant gratification is a feature of many aspects of life today, but it isn’t the route to career success. You can make the most of your time, even when it feels like you are idling in place, by using all of the key career-building qualities to your advantage. You can’t help but grow, personally and professionally, if you do.
