In the Power of Professionalism we advocate that skill-sets, as important as they are, were less important than one’s mind-set in the discharge of a professional’s responsibilities. Employers overwhelmingly agree. According to Harvard lecturer Dr. Paul Stoltz, 98% of employers would pick the prospective candidate with the ideal mind-set (and lacking the desired skill-sets) over the person with the ideal skill-sets (and lacking the desired mind-set). The same principle applied to employee retention. When deciding who to retain—someone with ideal mind-sets or someone with ideal skill-sets— 90 plus percent of employers would retain the employee with ideal mind-set. These results were based on a recently released five year study with thousands of top employers from all over the world.
This shouldn’t be surprising. Think of the important initiatives your organization has attempted: the implementation of new (and critical) operating processes, the all-important new product launch, the execution of a critical strategy, the delicate integration necessitated by a merger or acquisition. Think of the difficulties, the exasperation involved—sometimes even to the point of the initiative failing. Chances are the difficulties weren’t a skill-set problem. More likely, the difficulties were a mind-set problem. Is it any wonder employers are so attracted to those with desirable mind-sets?