What does hustle mean?!
My 3-year-old daughter heard me using the word "Hustle" on a call recently. She is quite proudly the world's greatest question-asker. "What does hustle mean mum?". I scoured my over-used brain for the "right" response and realized I needed to give this question some additional thought...
What does it mean?
"Hustle". I sat back and thought... What does it mean?! I hadn't thought that maybe this was a word that meant different things to different people.
Out came my phone and a quick google search, delivered the following results:
Verb: Hustle 1. push roughly; jostle.
Hmmm... no that's not it. This description makes it sound negative, to me - this word is quite the opposite and doesn't capture what I mean when I use it...
Next definition:
Informal: North American - Hustle 2. Obtain illicitly or by forceful action.
Nope - definitely not this one either.
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My definition
Had I been using it wrong? Should I stop using it? I like the way it sounds and to me, it is a "doing word" filled with energy and drive... A very positive word.
I decided to attempt to define what I meant by the word "hustle", whilst considering whether I was over-thinking this.. (Answer - yes, definitely).
Verb: Hustle 1. To drive, push and navigate through complex processes, teams, and objectives to deliver something awesome despite many obstacles and challenges.
That is what I mean when I use the word "hustle".
Hustle - in the talent world
When recruiting, I look for candidates that can "hustle"... Show resilience, operate with passion and deliver results... Candidates that are solution orientated, live to solve problems and are endlessly curious about how things work outside of the space they operate in...
To me, candidates with "hustle" have something magical about them and in my experience more often than not, really deliver great things for organizations...
So many subsequent questions
How can you identify hustle? How do you know if you have it? What are the actual competencies that make up this behaviour? So many questions, I think were really lost on my 3-year-old...
It made me start thinking - what are the other "magic ingredients" that you look for when trying to hire stand-out talent? Do you believe in hustle too?
That's an interesting perspective on the word hustle. It's great that you're thinking about how language can impact our perceptions and expectations, especially in a hiring context. Do you find that your definition of hustle aligns with the qualities you see in successful candidates?