If you’re still hiring “employees”, then you’re still in the land of the 20th century. In today’s fast moving, challenging world you need to recruit nothing but business athletes. These are fearless individuals that take the ball and sprint through a maze of challenges to the finish line. These folks don’t dance around a problem, they don’t wait and they don’t whine. They carve their own future and enjoy every minute of working alongside others like themselves on a common mission.
Here is a list of 10 ingredients found in these individuals. If you have 75% of these, then you aren’t an “employee”, you’re an athlete in today’s work world.
In Early, Out Late, Never Counts the Hours
A business athlete works long hours and loves every minute of what they do. They’re very hard working, frighteningly efficient and will never let you do the work for them. They don’t spend their time finding extra ways to live off the company, but rather have the company’s interest in mind at all times.
Their Work Becomes a Part of Their Life
A business athlete doesn’t end the day at 5 PM, or the equivalent of 8 hours. Their commitment and dedication is to the mission, not just the money, and this is fully apparent in after hour emails, texts and phone calls. Be weary of keeping anyone on your team who shuts off after a certain time. More than often you will end up driving them, rather than them driving the company.
Skin Thick as a Dinosaur’s
A business athlete understands that intense work can create intense conversations and criticisms. They understand that sometimes information must be communicated with a tone and passion that sets the appropriate intensity and urgency for a project or challenge at hand. Their mind is not fragile and can withstand any harshness in delivery for the sake of accomplishing the mission.
Driven to No End
These folks are driven and are an absolute source of energy. They are usually ambitious and almost never satisfied with the status quo, seeking self betterment in nearly every corner. They will go to their managers with ideas, projects, challenges and solutions to keep themselves, their teams and the company growing. When the work load increases, they simply smile back.
Perfection is Never Perfect
More than often their own harshest critic, a business athlete is almost never satisfied with the quality of their work. They constantly seek betterment and work long hours to ensure the quality of their work remains optimum. Their drive for more and their drive for better often serve as a lightening rod for their teammates and colleagues.
Smart
In any business, its important for team members to be able to make quick decisions with less than 100% of the necessary information. A business athlete is smart and can take the information available, deduce, induce and extrapolate estimations by which they can make a quick and quality decision. They make intelligent assumptions to maintain speed and keep moving forward.
Proactive as Paranoia
A business athlete is driven paranoid with a pro-activeness that is made to ensure their success. They often have a plan A, B and C for everything. They continuously double check and triple check their work for quality and accuracy. And.. rarely will they miss directives, fail to update managers or be caught missing a deadline. They are proactive and will not allow circumstances or the environment to blind side them or derail their missions.
Whining is For Losers
Business athletes don’t whine, they don’t blame others and they have very little excuses. They take what they have and get the job done. They are identifiers of problems and makers of solutions and almost never make it personal. Every struggle in their way to success is viewed as a challenge.
Strong as An Ox
Its not easy for circumstances of a challenge to knock these folks off their course. They will speak their mind, they will never take no for an answer and if something gets in their way, they will move it. They are strong willed and rarely have trouble maintaining control over the destiny of their initiatives.
Confident Enough to Make Mistakes
Its takes a certain amount of confidence to take risks knowing you may fail. These folks aren’t middlemen, they have substantial skin in the game. They personally take on Big Hairy Audacious Goals that not only promote their own growth but also the growth of those around them. They expect a lot from themselves and they’ll commit to big quotas, take on difficult projects and set nearly impossible deadlines knowing full well they may fail. They always see the glass half full and they shoot for the moon every time.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with everything in this post. I believe the pool of business althletes has shrunk and the top 5% will always be the top 5% but schools are unfortunately creating employees rather than Business Athletes.
The school of hard knocks rather than a college degree can sometimes be a better teacher and create the business athlete you describe.
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August 20th, 2009 at 9:28 am
What a shitload of mile high crap..you can easily replace the word business athlete with a slave..and the article will still make sense..bloody coincidence..
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October 17th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
loooool…deadly right !!! i liked your comment …it sounds truly right
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August 20th, 2009 at 9:54 am
“Business Athlete” is nothing more than a propagandistic term to encourage workers to be okay with a rather miserable predicament.
This idea that people should be enthusiastic about giving their every waking moment to the organization is ridiculous. Mind you, I’ve worked long hours, often unpaid, in order to make a deadline or a goal, but at the same time, I have a family to take care of, and they deserving of my attention outside of work.
Also the whole notion that people need to be thick-skinned needs some more fleshing-out. It seems that as it is described here, a desire for thicked-skinned workers is more about allowing managers to act tactlessly. Workers should be thick-skinned, able to handle criticism, but that doesn’t give management a free pass to berate or abuse their workers.
Many of the points here are valid, and you’ve presented some rather desirable character traits, but the overall tone seems to ignore the fact that workers are human-beings and have lives outside of work.
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August 20th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Completely irrelevant article.
If you’re still using this vocabulary, you’re a part of 20th century MBA-churning slave pens.
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August 20th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I was about to say the same thing. Whole-heartedly agree with you.
Work smart, not hard. You’ll raise your productivity and personal happiness. No client wants to interact with a hardened, overzealous workaholic.
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August 20th, 2009 at 10:05 am
FTA: When the work load increases, they simply smile back.
I didn’t know that exists.
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August 20th, 2009 at 11:08 am
This exists, and can be shortlived due to the problem that these types of people eventually want to be compensated like athletes as well. haha. What business wants to pay anyone a reasonable amount? Ben - I find it funny that you do not mention compensation. A rocket shooting for the moon cannot run on regular grade petrol. Strategies on keeping a business athlete running this type of pace should be your next article.
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August 20th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Sounds like the same US corporate values being re-shoveled down our throats with new lingo. Forget having a life, its now your only priority to stay afloat by becoming your company until they are done with you.
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August 20th, 2009 at 11:58 am
That Dick Hoyt appears to be an amazing man.
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August 20th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I’m impressed. I thought everyone and their dog would agree with you. It is a sign of the times that they did not.
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August 20th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
“A rocket shooting for the moon cannot run on regular grade petrol. Strategies on keeping a business athlete running this type of pace should be your next article.”
Absolutely agreed with that! Great point indeed.
Oh and these athletes as you describe them, if they aim for the Moon, then believe me they will NEVER stay in a company more than a half year, or maybe year.
They will ALWAYS look for more challenge and it would be very, very hard to keep them in your company.
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August 20th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
What drivel. Fortunately there are a good portion of the general public who enjoy being compensated for their skillsets and keeping their word. I have nothing against good, whole-hearted, diligent work; but it really takes the cake when this kind of over-achievement is an expectation. Not only will a company bent on hiring this type of employee lose them due to lack of challenge, but they will lose every other decently skilled individual because of high expectations.
Show me a man who schedules work appropriately around his family and personal life, and there you’ll not only find a good worker, but a happy one.
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August 21st, 2009 at 3:38 am
You can replace the athlete with ‘partner’ or ‘part-time employee’ or ‘freelancer’ or ‘permanent worker’ or ‘working class hero’ or whatever. The requirements are all the same but everyone understands why the partner works like like a business athlete and sometimes certain permanent workers work hard. What is not understod is that you cant motivate people to give everything they got if you treat them like a sack of dirt. It happens, it really does. without whining. doors just shuts down and your ideas get shot down due to ‘policy x’ or ‘you look better than me, you are not stepping on my toes’ attitude.
So basicaly the article is true but it is told in 100% pure hype form without attachment to reality. Afraid this is the type of ‘business management’ we get from course and classes and pay top dollar for it. The only one who laughs at the end is the trainer.
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August 21st, 2009 at 1:45 pm
s*&^%load
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October 20th, 2009 at 10:51 am
This article smells of communism propaganda so bad I had to step away from the monitor. Not a single word of compensation, which is the most important part of employee and employer relationship.
It’s funny that you posted a picture of Michael Phelps. I think I’ve heard somewhere that he earned close to $2 million last year. Well, of course he is going to train and perform like an animal. I bet if he was getting paid $10/hour you wouldn’t see him logging 500 laps a day.
Why do you think people will work day and night for you and not expect something in return? Do you give you employees equity, is your company set to go IPO next year?
Maybe you should check out business schools that you scorn so much. They could actually teach you something about capitalism and operating a company. Not some utopian idea of slaves working for nothing, so you could get rich…..
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November 8th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
This article is sickening. Basically people being treated like sweat shop workers and smiling for more. I bet he runs a clothing factory in China also….
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December 9th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Thx for your time
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