As a part of our talent acquisition engagements, we ask our clients how they define “top talent” and how they would assess those traits in the interview process. Reflecting on the insightful comments we hear every day, we thought there would be great value in a new blog in which senior executives/thought leaders share their “Take on Talent.”
This is the twelfth in a series of blogs/interviews with senior executives who are thought leaders in the areas of Talent Acquisition, Career Development and Leadership who will share their perspectives on this ever present question.
Guy Kirkwood is COO and Chief Evangelist of UiPath, a leader in intelligent automation and Robotic Process Automation. He has 20 years’ experience in outsourcing and a particular interest in the future of shared services and BPO.
He is a writer and presenter on the future of work.
Please share with us the top five characteristics (in priority order, first to fifth) of the most talented people you have encountered during your career, and your definition of each.
- Truthfulness – sometimes it is necessary to hold back some of the truth but it is never OK to lie
- Integrity – say what you’ll do and then do it; no excuses
- Humility – one does not know everything. In fact the longer you work, the more you realize how little you do know
- Helpfulness – it is right to be helpful to your colleagues, your customers and even your competitors; it is seldom forgotten
- Calmness – if you are in a panic, you can’t think but when you take the time to think, that’s when the magic happens
How do you communicate these characteristics to your HR and senior management team?
- I’m with Guy Kawasaki: “communication is not a job, it’s a way of life” and it should not just be to HR and senior management, it should be to everyone you interact with inside and outside your company; from the chief executives to the interns.
How do you handle challenges to the existing culture by talent you have brought in??
- I was told the other day that one of my previous colleagues had described me as a “renegade”, she meant it in a disparaging way but I thought it was one of the nicest descriptions I’d ever heard. Why? because companies need the builders, they need the sellers, they need the engineers and the soldiers: they also need the renegades, those people that don’t quite fit. Combining these creates tension and creates agility; and without agility we don’t end up building a Google or a Facebook, we end up trying to shore-up a Kodak.