1. 10 Attributes Every Employer Will Reward (Part One)
First impressions are important. From your very first day at work you are under close scrutiny. Apart from your
immediate supervisor, there may be a key decision maker or overall boss who might also be interested in what the
new candidate has to offer. He or she may want to take a quick ‘snapshot’ to form their impressions and make their
own conclusions. Oftentimes, they quietly observe you to see whether they made the right choice or got it wrong at
the interview. Once they have made up their minds, they often ‘move on’ and you may not get another chance to
show them a better picture of what you are capable of.
The first responsibility of the new employee is therefore to reinforce whatever good impressions you may have made
at the interview or selection stage. This gives you a head-start, especially in very competitive environments where
there are others doing the same things as you and all competing for promotion. It is also important because there is
often some flexibility around your new appointment, roles, responsibilities and opportunities. A good impression could
see you being given some additional responsibilities and higher benefits in a relatively short time. In one instance, a
young lady we had just employed performed so well upon assumption of duty that we withdrew her original
appointment and replaced it with another offering her a new designation and higher benefits.
Contrast this with another instance I witnessed in my very first place of employment after university. A brilliant guy
who had made a good impression on everyone during the orientation got summarily dismissed on the second day of
work for disregarding a simple instruction not to take any food outside the staff restaurant. He got fired for carrying a
lobe of cheese in his pocket. The issue may sound trivial from a certain perspective but this was an international hotel
franchise and the new establishment was seeking to set a high standard in an industry that had built an unenviable
reputation for staff corruption. Wrong choices and poor judgment in your first week at work could have dire
consequences for your career.
You are therefore responsible for starting well if you want to enjoy your stay in an organization. Wherever you find
yourself working; whether it is in a corporate establishment, a business or a not-for-profit, the following attributes
would make you attractive to your employer and increase the chances of your rapid rise and success.
1. Integrity & Humility
A number of surveys have sought to find out from CEOs of different companies which attribute they valued most
among their employees. Interestingly, the one attribute that keeps coming up over and over is integrity. A person’s
integrity refers to their character, honesty and reliability. No matter how technically competent you are, if you cannot
be trusted you will not make progress in any organisation you are employed in. An expert chef who lacks integrity
would use expired or rotten produce, cut corners and eventually destroy the hard-earned reputation of a restaurant.
Similarly, a dishonest accountant will spend all his time falsifying figures and misrepresenting issues.
No one wants to employ a person who cannot be trusted. The truth is employment involves a progressive process
rather than a one-off assignment. The person is expected to grow in both stature and responsibility. It will be
therefore very difficult to entrust more responsibility and power to someone who cannot be trusted with little. The
higher the sense of responsibility and trust you exhibit the more confidence your superiors will have in you.

2. What are the clearest signs that you are a person of integrity? Simple!!! Do you keep your word? Are you able to do
what you say you will do when you say you will do it? Do you remove all obstacles and sacrifice just to ensure that
you keep your promise to your boss or clients? Do you leave them in no doubt when you assure them that that
something will be done? Work on yourself and your dependability and the world will open up to you in a remarkable
way.
2. Continuous Learning & Improvement
Successful career development would require the candidate to continuously generate new ideas, grasp new ways of
doing things and emerging concepts in the marketplace. This process can be facilitated if you create an extensive
knowledge database. You would therefore put yourself at an advantage if you consistently make time to read and
study about your area of expertise as well as general personal development techniques and principles. The World
Development Report of 1999 indicated that “Knowledge has become perhaps the most important factor determining
the standard of living - more than land, than tools, than labour.”
It is therefore no excuse to expect to significantly improve in your career and standard of living if you are not
knowledgeable or informed. The younger you are the more voracious a reader you must be. Our weekly radio show
ran a series of interviews of young managing directors and heads of organisations to unravel the secrets of climbing
the corporate ladder at a young age and without fail, continuous learning and reading were highlighted as key factors.
In the knowledge economy, the world has moved from brawn-power to brain-power and from ‘man-power’ to ‘mind-
power.’ As you seek to operate at a higher level in your organisation, you will come to appreciate that mental strength
and dexterity are more rewarding than mere physical strength. Determine to progressively convert yourself into a
knowledge worker.
Learning and development is not an end in itself but a means to personal and organisational improvement.
Continuous reading and studying will stimulate your mind and energise you in various ways but that is not all that
there is to it. Don’t get caught in the trap of learning for the sake of it. Focus on the functionality of knowledge. As you
read, listen to a seminar, watch a video or study anything, think of how it can help you become a better person and
deliver better results. Keep a notebook close by for capturing new concepts and ideas that may course through your
mind.
3. Speed & Excellence of Execution
Your place at the top of the organisation is guaranteed if you are noted to be someone who is a doer rather than a
mere hearer. In the book “How to become CEO: The Rules for rising to the top of any organisation” author Jeffrey J.
Fox suggests that the idea does not have to be perfect but the execution does. He therefore recommends that “If you
wait for the perfect time, for the perfect new product, for conditions to be just right, you will never get started.”
Speed is an important prerequisite for excellent execution and promotion. Can you imagine yourself as a manager
rewarding a new executive who is always late to work, never delivers assignments on time and loves giving detailed
excuses for their non-performance? Whether you seek to introduce an innovation or have been assigned

3. responsibility for a new company project, decide to be prompt and early with your delivery. Submitting an assignment
ahead of the appointed time increases your respect and makes your boss look good to his or her superiors. That is a
key to being appreciated and promoted.
Your posture in the workplace must communicate a readiness to speedily deliver on assignments. Many CEOs form
far-reaching conclusions about their employees based on their general posture and attitude. Here are some tips for
the candidate seeking to inculcate and communicate the speed and urgency required for successful execution and
career progress:
1. Learn important lessons only once. Don’t let your boss keep repeating the same thing over and over.
2. Have a sense of timing and urgency in everything.
3. Always walk briskly and upright, especially at the beginning of the day. It is a signal of your readiness.
4. Avoid contradictions or dichotomy. Your words must match your actions.
5. Avoid unnecessary shyness. Step up to the plate when asked to do something and do your very best to
excel.
6. Shun complacency and indifference. It makes your superiors less forgiving when you make mistakes.
7. Always write things down. Don’t trust your memory
8. Avoid forgetting instructions. Use technology (alarms, phone reminders etc.) to help you if necessary.
9. Avoid slouching in your seat or wrong body language.
10. Give periodic feedback ahead of final delivery. It helps your bosses to relax and assures them of progress.
10 Attributes Every Employer Will Reward (Part Two)
4. ICT & Technological Fluency
Information technology has become a really important contributor to economic productivity and corporate
competitiveness. Today, it is rare to find an institution that does not utilise or depend on Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) in one form or another. Whether you are operating in the manufacturing, finance,
banking, governance, education, NGO or even in the informal economy, you will find yourself using computers, the
internet are some other technologies on a day-to-day basis. Today it is common to find pastors or speakers delivering
messages from I-Pads with the complement of LCD projection while students are using smart phones and devices to
record and transmit lectures with ease.
The use of information technologies often increases the pace of work and allows one to enter, to process and analyse
huge volumes of data while performing other complicated tasks. The Internet also serves as a critical source of
information for any kind of endeavour. All these combined with mobile telephony and related technologies as well as
email, instant messaging and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have transformed the pace and form
of modern business. Over one billion questions are asked on Google a day while over seven billion text messages
are sent each day, more than the entire population of the world.
Interestingly, in spite of the growing importance of ICT, a recent survey suggested that one in seven office workers in
the UK still needs help switching on a computer while a fifth struggle to save a document and need assistance when
printing. Anyone seeking to make an impact or grow their careers must of a necessity master the use of relevant
communication tools.

4. Not too long ago, advertisements generally required the successful candidate to have a working knowledge of basic
computer operating software. Today, familiarity with technology and software is not enough. A strong mastery of
software like word processors, spread sheets and presentations are the required foundation. A candidate who uses
relevant software with dexterity is more likely to hit the ground running and have a brighter chance of success than
the one who only has a fair idea about them.
5. A Positive “Can-Do” Attitude
Every leader wants to be surrounded by optimists. Running any kind of organisation can be a very demanding task.
Leaders are often confronted by seemingly insurmountable challenges that require total focus and the commitment of
the entire team. They therefore find themselves attracted to team members who have a sense of possibility and an
attitude that says “it can be done.”
What makes a champion different from the average person? Do they have more skills or expertise? Are their
circumstances perfect? Are they endowed with exceptional natural talents? Do they have more money or greater
opportunities? Or, is it simply good luck? The answer is that none of these things by themselves can create a
champion. In fact, most top performers have had to deal with seemingly insurmountable challenges. So, what makes
the difference? Studies show again and again that the difference is the champion's attitude. True champions have a
unique, positive outlook--an unfailing belief that focused, consistent effort will yield successful results.
The most powerful and predictable motivator for success is a positive mental attitude. Achievers are always
motivated to act because they expect their actions to lead to successful, positive results. If you want to rise fast in
your organisation and make a mark in your career you need a positive mental attitude.
6. Versatility & Functionality
Everyone is hired by an organisation to play a particular role which is often spelt out in the person’s job description.
However, in the course of work, situations sometimes arise that fall outside the defined role but which require action
for the achievement of the collective goals of the organisation. People who are able to consistently make
contributions beyond their regular scope of work are likely to rise or excel in any institution. Every leader wants
someone who simply gets things done. Functionality refers to the penchant to consistently deliver expected outcomes
in key areas. If you want to excel and be a star in your workplace, you have to build a reputation as someone who
can be trusted to get different things done. To be versatile is to be able to adapt to different kinds of situations.
Change is inevitable and both at the individual and organisational level, we have to deal with different stages in life
and business, each with their own challenges, opportunities and requirements for success. A person must be flexible
to be able to maintain his or her focus in different situations.
Successful people are able to adapt themselves to any situation they face and keep pressing towards their goals.
They know how to “abase and abound.” Leadership in any field requires an ability to survive when your resource
base suddenly shrinks and sponsors pull out of your project. On the other hand, it may also mean making changes to
your person or plan where necessary in order to move on to greater heights. People who are able to consistently
generate results in different kinds of situations often make rapid progress up the organisational ladder.
7. A Sense of Personal Discipline
This is probably one of the most important foundations for personal and career success and growth. Napoleon Hill
spent twenty years studying the richest people in America as part of an assignment given to him by Andrew Carnegie

5. to unravel the master key to riches. In the end, he concluded that the most common attribute he found among them
all was a sense of self-discipline, which he described as “Doing what you have to do, when you have to do it, whether
you feel like it or not.”
Doing the right thing when no one is observing you is a mark of self-discipline. Being faithful to your appointments on
a cold rainy day is a sign that you are alive to your responsibility. Stars do not make it a habit to give excuses or
blame others for their failures. They have an internal locus of control and that means that they look at themselves for
answers; whether it be to find out what went wrong or to fashion out a solution. Achievers take responsibility for
getting things done and go the extra mile even when things are tough just to deliver the desired results.