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Perserverance - The Executive Difference

BY: MICHAEL STERN March 1, 2006

“I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.” - John D. Rockefeller


Recently I had the chance to participate in the six-month performance review of a senior executive (let’s call him Stan) whom we had helped to place in a major Canadian company.

The company had run into unexpectedly turbulent times. That made Stan’s mandate difficult and uncertain. But I was pleased he got top marks for maturity and perseverance. He took everything the market threw at him, without making excuses or losing focus.

I had noticed the same thing in my own discussions with Stan. When I asked about one of the daunting challenges he’d faced in a previous role, he shrugged and said, “That’s life. You deal with it. No point complaining.”

Naturally, I was delighted when Stan’s new employer rated him as one of its top 10 executives, after only a brief time with the company. I was also relieved -- since the company had had to offer Stan a richer compensation package than they were comfortable with, in order to hire him. And I had assured them they wouldn’t regret it.

Fittingly, it was the same trait of perseverance that had annoyed them at first -- when Stan turned down their initial compensation offer -- that proved invaluable. Now the company loves that its new executive is tough, resilient and determined to get things done.

It’s my belief that persistence is one of the most valuable characteristics of a successful executive. Sales experts say that most sales are made on the fifth or sixth call - but that most salespeople give up after the first or second.

In my experience, employers value perseverance; but they don’t say so directly. Often it’s implicit in their expectations - they want people who are “results-oriented,” or “performance-driven.” But they don’t know how to screen for it.

So how do you identify people who never give up? Don’t ask them if they’re persistent. Even the dim ones will know what the “correct” answer is. Use tougher, behavioural-oriented questions that reveal how they operate under pressure. Open-ended interview questions work best: “Tell me about a tough situation you got into and how you got out of it.”

You can also be more specific. Ask candidates to tell you about times when they have been tempted to give up, but didn’t. Or you could ask them to recall a time when they had no choice but to give up - and how they handled it.

The point of such questions is not really what stories are told, but what’s lurking between the lines. Did giving up come easily to them, or hard? Did they shrug and quickly move on to another challenge, or find some way to accomplish their goal? For you “24” fans, think “Jack Bauer”.

Checking references gives you another chance to probe for persistence. Again, open-ended questions and requesting examples work best.

Once a reference described a candidate to me as someone who had never lost faith in their organization during a slowdown; she was the only one who was confident that things would turn around. “Give me an example of what you mean,” I asked. “Didn’t she get discouraged? Didn’t she ever get depressed?” The answers showed her to be the leader we were looking for.

It’s easy to be a winner when the economy is going in the right direction, or when your industry is on a roll. But most of our clients tell me that things are getting harder, and competition is increasing. That’s when success comes to those who keep on truckin’; those who persevere until they prevail.

How do you keep from getting discouraged? Perhaps it’s just a matter of developing the right mental attitude. As Thomas Edison said: “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”