Three Buckets

What to look for when you need to hire really great people? Look to get the best in three key buckets to create your team.

First, you need high intelligence quotient. We all know what that is. Its necessary to include skills in the “IQ bucket.”

Second, you need people with high emotional quotient—people who are self-aware and have good people skills. These aren’t just people who can “get along” with others. They’re people who work well with others. That can mean challenging each other to do your best as well as being empathetic, listening and understanding, the "EQ bucket."

Third, and probably most important, you need people with high adversity quotient. As the name implies, people with "AQ" are the ones who aren’t defeated by adversity. They are good at turning to a new page or seeing the time to pivot and how. Because one thing you can count on in business, and in life, is adversity—obstacles. You know they’re out there. You won’t know where or when they will happen. So everyone on your team needs to be a star at overcoming them. Your high-performance team needs to be able to do whatever it takes to get the ball over those last two yards and across the goal line. Those are the hardest two yards on the field. That grit, determination and perseverance are what you’re looking for.

Do you have different buckets to suggest and share?