Prima Donnas: Good or Bad?
If I asked ten business executives if having a Prima Donna in their organization was a good thing, I would bet you big money that at least 9 of 10 would respond, “No way.”
The word “Prima Donna” has a very negative connotation and it is most often used to describe an egotistical high-powered sports or entertainment personality in a negative way.
A casual key word search of “Prima Donna” on Google results in an overwhelming number of negative articles.
But is having a prima donna in your organization really such a bad thing?
Maybe the insurance brokerage sector is an anomaly, but I find it very instructive that all my really successful clients have at least one prima donna, particularly, in their sales departments. Both men and women.
Here is a short list of today’s stars known by their industry insiders as notorious prima donnas:
· Director James Cameron
· Opera: Pavarotti
· Actor Tom Cruise, Sly Stone
· Singers Lady Gaga, Cher, Madonna
· Professional Sports: Lebron James, Aaron Rodgers, Deion Sanders, Terrell Owens, John Riggins (I love Riggins)
· World Soccer stars, Renaldo and David Beckham
· FI Racing Stars: All drivers!
· Military: General Patton, Douglas MacArthur
Wouldn’t you like to have just one equivalent star of this magnitude on your team?
Lincoln had a prima donna: General Ulysses Grant.
Grant was a notorious rowdy, raucous, and many times drunken officer. But when Lincoln was told of Grant’s love for the bottle, he responded: “If I knew his brand, I’d send a barrel or so to all my other generals.” Grant’s appointment was the turning point of the Civil War. He was a strong leader like no other.
Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee had his share of prima donna generals too. Stonewall Jackson was continually off the reservation throwing temper tantrums when he did not get his way. But he has gone down as the greatest general of the Civil War.
So what is the point?
The point is that successful leaders recognize that strong people have strong weaknesses too. And prima donnas are those with extraordinary strengths…and weaknesses.
The truth, at least in most sales organizations, is that it does not matter how many tantrums a prima donna throws as long as he or she makes it rain with big deals.
It has been proven time and time again that the most successful hiring managers (and professional sports coaches) make staffing decisions to maximize strengths and not to minimize weaknesses.
Successful leaders and managers make strengths productive. They know you cannot build on weakness. That’s usually a waste of time.
To achieve results, one must build on all available strengths of the associates, the leaders, and one’s own strength. Using the strengths of your people and knowing where to deploy them in an organization is the cornerstone of any successful organization.
One insurance hiring authority recently told me about his #1 sales producer, “I strive to make her strength (closing complex deals) prominent and her weakness (temperament) irrelevant…and, gosh darn, she is absolutely killing it right now…carrying the office…she sells and everyone gets the hell outta the way.”
This same hiring manager (one of the most highly respected in the WDC insurance industry) went on to explain that individuals can acquire many types of skills and experiences, but they cannot change their temperament. Courage is the same. You either have it or you don’t.
And, sure, prima donna sales producers bring their share of drama to the office, but he told me he wouldn’t trade any one of them for what they bring to the fight every day.
He also told me when he identifies a potential prima donna hire, he purposely makes their job “big and demanding.” It’s just the challenge they need to bring out whatever strength they may have.
So next time you’re watching a game-changing star athlete, movie star, or lead opera singer belting out Evita at the Kennedy Center, just think: would you want this individual on your team?
Rob Houghton
