One Trait Crucial For Success, From a Chinese Billionaire

He walked in slowly, shuffling his feet as if his knee caps were nonexistent. He was elderly and thin. Skin hung off his bones, and he moved slowly but in a calculated way.

His body was giving up on him as age stalked him like a slow but calculated predator. It crept in to take more of the meat from his bones, but his mind was as sharp as that of a master student at Harvard.

He took a seat slowly and quietly, whispering into the ear of the younger Chinese man, his son. His son said something to him in Chinese and then his son turned to all of us to let us know his father would like to address us all.

We sat in the air-conditioned boardroom and I felt like I was on of the students in the movie ‘Kung Fu Panda’ listening to ‘Master Oogway.’

One thing that the ancient Chinese culture has in abundance are pithy sayings of profound wisdom, and that day another one from the billionaire owner of our company was to be revealed.

Many of the people in the boardroom dismissed the message of the elderly Chinese man as the ramblings of a man who had lost touch with the workings and the digital age of his own company.

But what I saw and heard was timeless wisdom spoken in a simple, yet profound, statement.

“Sometimes you need to suffer short pain, to avoid suffering long pain.” He said, in his ‘way of the master,’ speech to us all.

Like anything simple but profound, you never realise the full impact of the statement until months and sometimes even years later, if you care to remember the statement at all.

I walked away that day thinking about that statement, and only later, a few years after that day, did I understand the meaning.

At the time I had been thinking about another CEO that I had worked for previously, a dynamic Brazilian business leader, and he had always said to me the thing that distinguishes one from another with the same qualifications is passion.

‘Passion drives people, and makes them successful. Always look for the one with the most passion, the most energy. I would even take a passionate person willing to learn rather than a qualified know it all.’ His words ringing in my mind that day, probably because I was about to interview some people for a position in our company.

Over the years, I have tried to seek the energetic one, the one that shows enthusiasm and passion for work amongst similarly qualified people.

I have discovered over the years that people can interview well, but not work out as expected. They are like professionally skilled interviewees.

I now do not look for the one with the most passion for the business. I look for something else, a personality trait that is more important than just enthusiasm and passion.

I have had a deeper insight into ‘Master Oogway’s’ teaching. I look for candidates who can ‘suffer short pain, to avoid suffering long pain.’

Someone who can overcome short-term setbacks and find solutions to smaller immediate problems, and think laterally. But also someone who has direction and a future focus.

Thinking laterally brings creative solutions to problems that many enthusiastic employees may miss. If you think about it, an enthusiastic employee can still make a mess, but do so enthusiastically.

What I look for now in employees is more important and ‘slower burning’ than short-lived bursts of enthusiasm. When I interview anyone, or assess my marketing team, there is one thing that I look for above all else.

It is a key determiner of success in anything that we put our minds to. It is under huge threat right now because we live in a digitally distracted age with a key emphasis on distraction.

The opposite of distraction is focus, but focus, although important, is not all that I look for. I think there is one personality trait that surpasses focus. A personality trait known as conscientiousness.

People with this specific trait will perform better at every type of occupation, because they will invest their energy and time into performing their tasks.

Conscientious people are good at formulating long-term goals and they are unhindered by short-term setbacks. They have a longer term future vision.

One of the most important factors with conscientious people is that they regulate and direct their impulses.

They plan their routes to long-term goals and are future focused. Responsible and organized, with a deep sense of duty, makes conscientious people a great fit for most corporations. Coupled with the fact that conscientious people have a high need for achievement trait intertwined within their personalities, they are the candidates that should do well.

There is a caution that comes with the conscientious personality trait that these people can be workaholics and perfectionists, and boring and inflexible. So it depends on the specific intricacies of the work and the mix of this personality trait within the individual.

Having the conscientious personality trait does, in most cases, lead to a successful career path within corporations, and most other things in life. But as is true for any personality trait taken to the extreme, too much of anything is bad for us.

To conclude, passion is important, but the ‘slow burn’ future focused conscientious person will win out longer term.

I am not saying this is an absolute, because with people and personalities, there are no absolutes. The human mind is a most intriguing entity, and that’s what makes it fun and challenging.

Psychology Today defines the trait as follows.

‘Conscientiousness is a fundamental personality trait — one of the Big Five — that reflects the tendency to be responsible, organized, hard-working, goal-directed, and to adhere to norms and rules. Like the other core personality factors, it has multiple facets; conscientiousness comprises self-control, industriousness, responsibility, and reliability.

A conscientious person is good at self-regulation and impulse control. This trait influences whether you will set and keep long-range goals, deliberate over choices, behave cautiously or impulsively, and take obligations to others seriously.’

source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/basics/conscientiousness

Thank you for reading and let me know if you agree or disagree.