If you've worked in an office, or any business with more than a few employees, you come across people who just seem to be destined for advancement.
Yes, sometimes it is because they are good looking or have connections or went to the right schools or butter up the boss. However, those instances are far less common than you might think — and more often are just rationalizations that people tell themselves to feel better about being less qualified.
|Most important characteristic for career advancement
While it's true that some people are better at some things than other people, the reality is that there are many ways to become a valuable employee. Some of those are natural abilities such as intelligence, a good memory (not the same thing as intelligence), being good with people, etc., but in our experience, even many of those innate talents can be learned — as can the single most important characteristic for career advancement: Leadership.
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Angie Herbers
Angie Herbers is chief executive and senior consultant at Herbers & Co., an independent management strategy consultancy for financial advisory firms. She can be reached at www.HerbersCo.com.
