4Es, 1 P and Double G I was listening to Jack Welch the other day, and he gave good advice on how to hire the best person for the job and what to look for. It wasnt too surprising at first... but then he added a final thought on whats really important that changed my view. Jack started with smarts and integrity — which are almost a given for all the good candidates. Smarts is not just IQ but common sense as well. If a candidates integrity and values dont match your organizations values — let them succeed elsewhere. Jack then outlined what he uses to distinguish the best candidates from the good candidates. He calls it The four Es and one P. Qualities of the best leaders: Energy: They go the distance, and not just at crunch time. Energize others: They exude positivity and stir others to action, contagiously. Edge: They can make yes-or-no decisions, without analyzing everything to death, and can adapt and cut their wrong decisions quickly, letting their winners run. Execution: They get out from behind the desk and make ideas happen. Passion: They have it — for both work and life. Passionate people sweat the details; theyre curious, they care — and they are not one-dimensional. When you are interviewing people, ask questions that test whether they have demonstrated these skills. If you are the interviewee, you want to make sure that your answers tell your personal story and demonstrate these qualities. Then Jack added what he thought was the game changing quality for leaders today — having a generosity gene. At first, to me, given Jacks renown at GE as Neutron Jack and for Rank and Yank policies, this seemed antithetical, but as Jack talked, he captured the essence of a great leader and how you can evaluate great leaders. The generosity gene is an in-the-bones, personality-deep craving — to help other people improve, grow, thrive and succeed and to not take the credit for themselves, but to attribute it to their subordinates. It is the opposite of the me quality. Generosity gene managers inspire trust, and unleash the productivity and creativity of their teams, said Jack — as a result, the company reaps the benefits. Do you have that in-the-bones craving? Jack says the way to test for it is to ask, how many people, who have worked for a candidate, were promoted by them. Extra credit should be given if those promotions were outside their domain of responsibility. Also, ask that person how they rewarded people and if they told stories of how their people would go home and talk about the raise they got. If the raise was bigger than the boss raise... all the better. The candidate who does this is who youre looking to hire. So if you want to hire like Jack Welch, or are interviewing and want to be sure you are seen as that game changing leader you are, remember the four Es, one P and the double GG. It will pay off for you. If you dont think you measure up, recognize how you can adapt and change for the better. Leadership is something that can be, must be, learned. It is not a static gene. # India Talent Services
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 16:29:36 +0000
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