I heard today that assessments aimed at finding high-calibre personnel are no longer considering intelligence and talent but are now concentrating all attention on character.

While I expect this is an exaggeration of the current state of recruiting practices, I think it is wrong to underestimate the value of intelligence and talent. And, I believe the use of character assessment alone is a very troubling way to go about determining people’s wherewithal.  

Intelligence, Talents & Character: it seems to me all three of these things are critical to success. I can't imagine any meaningful achievement that does not contain portions of all of these attributes.  

Intelligence is multifaceted and can work in mysterious ways.  Regardless, it's hard to imagine anything being built without a significant level of intelligence. Intelligence correlates the success…in all endeavours.

Talents are the fundamental pieces required for mastery of task and the construction of all meaningful things. When people use their talents at work they take steps to fulfill their ultimate potential. The more they use their talents the greater their opportunity to succeed.

Character is the overriding quality that inspires thought, promotes trust, and influences action. Character is a construct of personal values, personal rules & morals, and a number of other facets, including self-control and power of will. Character is about authenticity and trueness, consistency and doing the right things. 

Clearly, character is an essential ingredient. It is easy to accept that character is the key ingredient. But, that should not confuse the facts around the importance of intelligence and talent. 

When alpha dogs collide you see raising of hackles and you hear snarls & barks...then comes the gnashing of teeth and to-and-fro attacks...much noise, much heated action. Then, sooner or later the battle subsides.

Tied to all this - 

Of course, as Napoleon Hill made so clear during the last years of his life - Ultimately, Nothing Matters. The day will soon come when the snarls and barks and even the painful yelps subside into memory. 

Ultimately, Nothing Matters.

Regardless, 'ultimately' does not apply to the current situation. The current situation is - now...and...now, right this moment, Many Things Matter...especially, if you have in your mind Personal Values and Personal Goals...let alone Personal Rules, codes of conduct, morals, etc. The stronger your convictions in these areas, the more things matter.

If you do not believe me then just ask a couple of alpha dogs. But, take care not to be bitten or at least snapped at during the process.

Complexity confuses people.

Simplicity generates efficiency.

80/20 Rule wisdom has repeatedly proven its value over time.

The 80/20 Rule tells us that 20% of the work we do delivers 80% of the value we receive for that work. In other words, 20% of our efforts yield 80% of the results we desire. 

In no way does the 80/20 Rule try to guide us to work perfection in all areas.

In no way does the 80/20 Rule try to cover all of the various pieces of work we perform.

In no way does the 80/20 Rule try to satisfy 100% of anyone's needs.

In fact, the 80/20 Rule implies the exact opposite.

• It implies simplicity.
• It implies reduction.
• It implies compromise.

In exchange for these ‘limitations’, the 80/20 Rule delivers the benefits of efficient and effective coverage of the processes that deliver 80% of the value we are working to obtain.

When we cover 80% of the value using systematized and simplified processes, such as those governed by the 80/20 Rule, we free up the ability to focus the majority of our time on injecting innovation into processes that require our inter-personal talents, our technical expertise, and significant amounts of our concentration and thought.

***

In business we do better when we have simple systems, we know the rules for those systems, and we know when we must break those rules and do different things.

We need to understand human nature: people are very comfortable following the rules they have chosen for themselves; people have more difficulty buying into and following rules created by others. And yes, some people are natural born rule breakers...they are the outwardly defiant, the silent detractors, and the saboteurs.

In reaction to the resistant-to-change realities of the business world, we develop supervisors, managers, coaches, and mentors.