Member-only story
I was once asked which is the most important trait an employee should have — loyalty, talent, or drive?
Having the opportunity to observe up close the group dynamics of many organizations, I have come to realize that as we move up the career ladder, loyalty becomes the most important.
The reason is simple. At the senior levels, the delta between talent and drive between colleagues is marginal, as to be able to climb the corporate ladder, the employee must have demonstrated spades of both.
But what is not a given is loyalty. In fact, in many cases, the drive to succeed takes on a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality where the employee thinks nothing of undermining the boss or others for personal success.
Our values are constants, so if we want to predict how a person will act in the future, all we need to do is look at how they acted in the past. I am therefore always amused when counter-signing officers are surprised that someone they promoted backstabbed them, when that employee had backstabbed their previous reporting officer.
To me, drive can be incentivized and talent (or the ability to do the work) taught. What is intrinsic is a person’s values, and that is what we need to hire or promote for at the senior levels.
