Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Why Tough Guys Finish First
Everybody likes tough guys. From Vito Corleone to Tony Soprano these personas continue to be phenomenally popular. Tough guys are also good guys such as John Wayne, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. Their movies are some of the entertainment industry's most popular. We feel good watching tough guys and amazingly some of us even emulate them, forgetting they are merely figments of screen writers.
We also hunger to study and observe corporate tough guys as illustrated by the popularity of Donald Trump, Jack Welch and even the quiet but mighty Bill Gates. What's the appeal of these tough guys? We admire their power and their successes. Most important, they win our confidence, a fact that deserves close examination by any job seeker.
Following my survey of Human Resource Directors last year, I sought to survey and study several more-accessible corporate leaders looking to see if they too were tough guys. Predictably all the business leaders I questioned (there were seven nationwide) had some combined characteristics of tough guys though not bad guys. While differing in age, diversity, economic background, industry, and even management styles, they all had certain qualities in common, and when conducting hiring campaigns, they required and sought other tough guys! Here are the qualities they preferred!
Opinionated and passionate but never arrogant... No rear view mirrors and no excuses for past failures... Insatiable hunger to be proactive... Extremely likeable... Never Greedy
We also hunger to study and observe corporate tough guys as illustrated by the popularity of Donald Trump, Jack Welch and even the quiet but mighty Bill Gates. What's the appeal of these tough guys? We admire their power and their successes. Most important, they win our confidence, a fact that deserves close examination by any job seeker.
Following my survey of Human Resource Directors last year, I sought to survey and study several more-accessible corporate leaders looking to see if they too were tough guys. Predictably all the business leaders I questioned (there were seven nationwide) had some combined characteristics of tough guys though not bad guys. While differing in age, diversity, economic background, industry, and even management styles, they all had certain qualities in common, and when conducting hiring campaigns, they required and sought other tough guys! Here are the qualities they preferred!
Opinionated and passionate but never arrogant... No rear view mirrors and no excuses for past failures... Insatiable hunger to be proactive... Extremely likeable... Never Greedy
