All in a day's work

Jul 1, 2006 12:00 AM, By Katherine O'Brien

Editor's Desk

What makes a person successful? Herb Greenberg, founder of management consulting firm Caliper (Princeton, NJ) says successful people, regardless of occupation, have four things in common: They focus on their strengths, have a keen sense of self-awareness, are willing to take a risk and love what they are doing.

Greenberg recently collaborated with Patrick Sweeney, a Caliper executive vice president, on a book titled, “Succeed on your own terms.” It profiles more than three dozen business people, politicians, athletes, artists, entertainers and global figures, ranging from former Dallas Cowboy Roger Staubauch (“Thriving on pressure”) to Fergal Murray, the chief brewmaster for Guinness (“Find something no one else is doing and make it yours”).

Fear of sappy platitudes
I was prepared to hate this book. On the face of things, it seemed like it might be 224 pages of sappy platitudes that would be right at home in Reader’s Digest. But the Caliper name intrigued me. We’ve written about the company’s pre-employment evaluation tools, including the Caliper Profile, a proprietary personality assessment that identifies applicants’ potential, motivations and strengths. It’s been used by 25,000 corporate clients to assess more than two million employees—a group that includes everyone from welfare recipients to company presidents.

Experience isn’t necessarily preferred
In addition to profiling some famous and not-so-famous people who have succeeded on their own terms, Greenberg and Sweeney make a lot of interesting points about the hiring process. For example, they maintain a job applicant’s past experience doesn’t always act as a reliable indicator of future success. “We have never met a manager who hasn’t hired someone with 10 years’ experience, only to find this was nothing but one year’s bad experience repeated 10 times,” they say. “We know from [millions] of assessments during the past four decades that anywhere from 60 to 80 percent of people currently working are ‘misemployed.’ They are not doing a job that matches their core strengths and they are not doing work they love. More often than not, experience can [describe] someone who is doing the wrong job in the first place. Perpetuating that mistake almost invariably leads to the recirculation of mediocrity.”

Of course, employers are equally to blame. If they don’t understand the requirements of a particular job, they aren’t likely to make wise hiring decisions. According to the authors, “Most simply do not understand specific job functions well enough to determine what it really takes to succeed in that job.”

Once an employer understands what the job requires, he or she need a thorough understanding of the applicants. “You must know their key strengths, as well as any limitations that would prevent them from doing the job,” advise Greenberg and Sweeney. While some things, such as lack of product knowledge, can be overcome, other factors can’t. If your applicant lacks the core motivation to do the job, there’s nothing you can do to help.

When you do hire someone, tailor the training to the specific person. “You must address people as individuals and not simply apply a one-size-fits-all approach,” the authors advise.

Something to think about
I also was intrigued by a series of 35 questions that concluded the book. “We have found that people who succeed on their own terms in business, sports, the entertainment world or whatever their pursuit, know whom they are and how to play to their strengths,” the authors explain. “They are willing to take risks on their own potential&8212;and maybe on someone else’s, as well.”

There’s no right answer to these questions; the goal is to improve your self-knowledge. Here’s a sampling:

What do you enjoy most about your current job?
A year from now, how will you know if you are succeeding in your current job?
If you have a difficult decision to make, how many people do you discuss it with?
How often do you find yourself going against the tide?
When you were a child, did you have a hero? If so, who was it?
What drives you in the face of defeat?
Have you had a defining moment (an event that changed your life)? Did you recognize it when it was occurring?
What makes you happy?
What is your next big challenge?
What lesson would you like a child to learn from your life?