September 9, 2020

1 Leadership Thought

When leaders think about what we want in teammates, we typically think of hungry people: 

  • They’re high-achievers 

  • They have no problem working hard 

  • They’re enthusiastic and show a lot of initiative 

​On the surface, these people seem like they would be great team members. After all, don’t we want everyone on our team to be driven and committed to learning and growing?​

Absolutely, but “the one quality that is even more important than being hungry is being coachable.” (Share this on Twitter)

A hungry person who is not coachable can fool you with their flashy quotes, name-dropping, book reading, goal-setting, and showboating drive. That’s a recipe for a toxic team member because they have more selfish ambition than anything else. 

This is what being coachable looks like: 

  • Asks for and learns from feedback — especially from peers and people below their leadership position 

  • Adaptable to changes in plan — especially when they consider advice they don’t agree with 

  • Willing to ask for help — from both people above them and below them 

  • Team-oriented — they play all-out for the team and company goals over their own goals 

If they don’t have these qualities, then it doesn’t matter how much drive they have. 

At the end of the day, you always want someone that’s always going to be humble and listen for the full picture of what’s going on, always willing to accept feedback and grow, and always going to play all-out for the team.

1 Resource

Jocko Willink (retired Navy SEAL and author of Extreme Ownership) on the toxicity of ego:

​"When you start letting your ego drive your decision-making process, and you start making decisions that satisfy your ego instead of helping out the team and helping out your subordinates and helping out the people above you in the chain of command, when you allow those things to happen, you’re going to start to go backwards and you’re going to end up in a bad position."

Source: EntreLeadership Podcast: The Toxicity of Ego​

1 Question

How are you contributing to your own struggle?