What Makes a Leader: Skills vs. Attitude
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The cover photo is a widely reported advertisement taken out by Sir Ernest Shackleton for his famous Antarctica expedition over a hundred years ago.The short ad certainly captures the glorious spirit of the twenty seven brave adventurers with the harrowing experience. It is considered one of the best examples of copywriting. Shackleton was supposedly flooded with 5000 responses for the call. Amateur historians have since challenged the authenticity of the ad, but it nevertheless makes an aspiring story. Shackleton’s story has since became a role model for leadership in extreme circumstances.
Interestingly, I came across this week another very different type of job ad. Again, I have no idea about its authenticity. The contrast of the two advertisements make me think about the current recruiting and hiring processes, or leadership development in general.
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We have all heard the advice: "Hire for Attitude, Training for Skills". The clear implication of this advice is the attitude is more important than skills because character traits and attitude tend to stay the same while skills can be trained. In practice, however, technical skills are easier to evaluate and assess than attitude, so organizations tend to focus on those skills in the hiring and evaluation process. Yet, according to a Leadership IQ study, 89% of hiring failures are due to attitude, while only 11% failures were technical driven. The difficulties in assessing soft skills often lead to confirmation bias in the hiring process when managers often focus on data supporting their beliefs.
I would love to hear your perspective and experience. In addition, if you figure out the phone number for the Math Teacher opening, please share in the comment section as well.
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Maximizer, Developer and Connector of People and Teams
2 年A long time ago (2012 to be precise), a manager asked me if I would hire technical expertise over behavior, given the other was just okay. I told him, without hesitation, I would hire behavior (or more specifically, attitude). He said I was wrong, that technical behavior can be managed by authority, compliance and accountability. He was correct, to some extent. But I responded that I can teach anyone technical expertise, but teaching attitude, values and principles (that lead to behaviors) may take a lifetime - if lucky. I can teach anyone expertise. Authoritative leadership can "bridge" past poor behavior from a day-to-day management program. In the long run, however, poor behavior festers and spreads, sometimes not even on the surface but beneath it. Today, I "level-1" applications based on skill. When it comes to hiring, it's all about attitude. Note: Some say hire also on culture fit. "Culture fit" is very complicated in terms of hidden bias, so this is a very complex topic to discuss. In general, when I build teams, I look for diversity of individual people that add much to the team. Another reason to hire for attitude.
CEO @ Amos Dairies Uganda | MBA, MSc Food Science
2 年Not every skill can be trained on the job. I agree that having the right attitude leads to better chances of success in a position but one has to have some basic training relevant for the job. In one organization I once worked they recruited people into position without regard for qualification simply because they had the right attitude. The end result was whole departments full of unskilled workers who were very eager to work for next to nothing. The output - a disaster; the blind leading the blind and no succession plan. Attitude must compliment the skills. Yes you can train but suppose you recruit for a maintenance job; a dedicated Maths teacher with all the right attitude and a passion for engineering will the job get done?
Healthcare professional
2 年Attitude towards the job company Hiring for is one of the most important aspects when selecting a candidate but one needs to be equally skilled for the job offered. Sometimes your skill sets your attitude. Thanks Xinjin Zhao for a valuable piece.