The Right People in the Key Seats

The specifics can vary, even within companies, but our research delivered six important traits that identify "the right people"

The right people fit the company's core values
Great companies build cultures in which those who don't share the institution's values are surrounded by anti-bodies and ejected like viruses. People ask: "How do we get people to share our core values?" The answer: Hire people already predisposed to them—and keep them.

The right people don't need to be tightly managed
When you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you may have made a hiring mistake. You need not spend a lot of time "motivating" or "managing" the right people. It's in their DNA to be productively neurotic, self-motivated, self-disciplined, and compulsively driven to excel.

The right people understand that they do not have "jobs"—they have responsibilities
They grasp the difference between their task list and their true responsibilities. The right people can complete the statement, "I am the one person ultimately responsible for…".

The right people fulfill their commitments
In a culture of discipline, people view commitments as sacred—they do what they say they'll do, without complaint. Equally, this means that they take great care in saying what they will do, careful never to overcommit or to promise what they cannot deliver.

The right people are passionate about the company and its work
Nothing great happens without passion. The right people display remarkable intensity.

The right people display window-and-mirror maturity
When things go well, the right people point out the window, giving credit to factors other than themselves; they shine a light on others who contributed. Yet when things go awry, they do not blame circumstances or other people; they look in the mirror and say: "I'm responsible."

Data: Jim Collins from Business Week