Five Attributes of a Superstar

It’s been a good week. We made three placements.  All superstars. 

This is very unusual because although everyone I place with a client is in direct alignment with their requirements, they are not all superstars. 

What makes a superstar a superstar?  What are their attributes and what are the most important ones to look for?

Are you one?

After 20 years of executive recruiting and working alongside U.S. Special Operation Forces, I have come across several attributes that keep repeating themselves over and over again based on my own assessments and client feedback.  These are the people that take their civilian and military organizations to the next level.

There are five attributes of a superstar that I have identified:

Grit: Determination. Not knowing when or how to quit. Overcoming adversity. In 1979, my best friend, Jim Langan, drove 2,100 miles to Houston, TX after college graduation with $50 in his pocket.

He had one month earlier written 100 letters to potential firms in Houston requesting a job interview. Thirteen responded. Six phone interviews ensued which resulted in one face-to-face interview with a prestigious oil firm in Houston.

Unfortunately, the morning after the final 13-hour drive to Houston, he overslept for this first interview.  I know because I was with him.  The alarm clock battery had died during the night. 

I can still remember the scheduling coordinator informing Jim, “Sorry, but you missed the interview and we are no longer interested…”

How did Jim respond?  Did he pack up and go home? Not a chance. I distinctly remember Jim telling me, “Rob, we ain’t leaving Houston until I find a job…”

Jim then scrambled to get the address of their #1 oil firm competitor in Houston: Chevron.

We drove to their headquarters building the next day where Jim took the elevator to the 17th floor in their Houston headquarters building.  He literally walked right into the Managing Partner’s office at 5 pm as he was clearing his desk for the day. Note: In the days prior to 9/11, one could do this!

Jim stated his case and asked the Managing Partner for a job. He told him his story of driving for two straight days to Houston with $50 to his name only to forget to set his alarm clock and miss his only interview.

Jim stated his case with such passion that he was hired on the spot. I know because I was in the lobby and heard him celebrating in the elevator on the way down. 

That was Jim’s first real job. And the rest is history. Jim ultimately made a fortune in the Texas oil business.  That is grit, my friends. A man’s not beat until he says he’s beat.

Mental Acuity: Smarts. You just can’t teach smarts. You either have it or you don’t. You can have 15 years of experience, but if you don’t have situational awareness, the ability to learn quickly, and task-switching capability, chances are you’ll be at the same company at the same desk 15 years from now.

Learnability is critical, particularly, in the insurance brokerage business because you are dealing with so many different risks, products, coverages, industries and people. Every situation is different. Thinking critically is invaluable.

Drive & Focus: Drive is much more than “trying hard.”

Drive is having the discipline and courage to keep moving forward in a calculated and focused manner.

Without focus, drive and determination will burn you out. A cousin to drive is open-mindedness. You have to be open-minded and observant about what the correct path is to take. Embrace that inner voice and then focus with the end game in mind.

Leadership: Alongside my recruiting career and prior, I have worked for and with America’s special operations forces units (SOF) training, coaching, and mentoring these young men and women in leadership. 

The best leaders in SOF are the authentic ones. Special operators, particularly those in the field, have a unique bullshit meter and can smell it a mile away. You cannot lead men and women if you aren’t authentic.

I have a neighbor who is a partner in a well-known public accounting firm.

When I first discovered he was a partner in his firm, I found myself in disbelief because he couldn’t have been much older than 30 years old.

I found him not only engaging, but very authentic. He had a keen self-awareness. He knew exactly who he was and never strayed from that. 

Being authentic is refreshing. It’s powerful stuff.  People are drawn to authenticity in a society now that we live in where authenticity is hard to find.

Great military leaders lead by example.

Leadership is not about management. It is about being decisive and accountable. As the leader, you own the project. If it fails, you have failed. You extremely own it.

Management is telling someone else what to do; monitoring them. You don’t own the project or department – you just oversee it.

Leadership is also about empowering and enabling someone to do something so you don’t have to monitor or watch them.

Here is one leadership quality you probably don’t think of:  Humor. It’s not uncommon for special operators as well as other first responders to inject humor into life-threatening situations. It relieves stress. It relaxes the mind to gain the necessary clarity to make critical decisions “under fire.”

Leaders are hard to find. Managers are a dime a dozen.

Teamability: We hear a lot about, “He/she is a team player…” What is a team player? I played a lot of competitive sports through high school, college, and after. Teamability is about being part of something greater. It’s about 1+ 1 = 3. Team players are winners.

Teamability is also about humility. The ability to achieve great things and make sure everyone on the team receives the credit. You don’t need the credit. You’re already the leader!

What are some of the tell-tale signs of a superstar?

If you know what to look for, you can sometimes spot them on a resume or during an interview…i.e. competitive sports is one indicator, working from a very young age, working your way through college, taking care of an elderly parent, past leadership positions in school or work – overcoming any sort of adversity.

The most effective way to uncover these attributes is knowing how to stage and execute a behavioral-based interview. Open-ended questioning is an art and so are the advanced training techniques of personal assessment.

The simple answer is this is what my clients pay me to do.

Do you have these attributes?  Are you a superstar?  Do you have what it takes to be a superstar in your organization?

I welcome your feedback and any questions you may have.

-Rob