CEO Says Workers Who Have These 3 Traits ‘Don’t Fail’
If you have these three traits, the CEO of Fiverr thinks you're going to go far.
Vitaly Gariev | Unsplash We all want to know what we can do to make ourselves more valuable at work. The more indispensable you are, the more likely you are to have job security and receive promotions. In today’s world, that’s absolutely essential.
There are a lot of differing opinions out there about what makes a strong employee. Micha Kaufman, the CEO of freelancing platform Fiverr, said there are three specific traits he looks for when trying to identify workers he knows won’t fail. As the CEO of a company worth $931 million, according to CNBC Make It, Kaufman has had the chance to interview quite a few job candidates. These are the three traits he is always the most interested in seeing.
The CEO of Fiverr said workers with these three traits ‘don’t fail':
1. Killer instinct
Having good instincts is more than just knowing when to say or do something. It’s having a clear, accurate understanding of the company you’re working for, knowing its strengths and pain points.
As Kaufman said, “It’s being able to understand the brand vision behind anything you want to build … [to] internalize it, make it yours in doing everything in your control and sometimes beyond your control.”
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Writing for Business.com, Sean Peek explained that it’s best to have a decision-making method that relies on a mixture of gut instinct and data collection. The combination will ensure you have all the information you need. However, he did say that relying solely on your instincts has its perks.
“For experts, it might be wiser to rely on their gut instincts rather than external data to make business decisions because they’ve spent their professional careers harnessing their skills and cultivating a specific knowledge base,” he said. “So gathering external opinions, facts and big data could muddy the waters and, ultimately, waste time and energy.”
While the average employee would likely not consider themselves to be an “expert” in their field, that doesn’t mean they don’t have something valuable to contribute. Relying on your instincts can get you to where you know you need to be, regardless of what the evidence may say. It’s always best to trust yourself and go with what you know. CEOs like Kaufman depend on it.
2. Agility
Agility is adaptability, CNBC noted. Kaufman recently had the chance to experience this when he announced a new AI program for Fiverr creators, Fiverr Go. Kaufman praised “those who don’t freak out but actually appreciate the opportunity and are instead of thinking about the downsides and the problems and the challenges” considering how to make things work. He said this “is only possible with people that are not rigid.”
Doug Bonderud, part of human resources company ADP, pointed out that agility is not just something good employees have, but also something that good businesses have.
“Agility refers to the ability of an organization to adapt, survive and thrive in uncertain or complex business environments,” he wrote. “The last few years offer an easy example. Organizations that embraced agility and learned to adapt even before 2020 were better prepared for transitions to remote and hybrid work.”
In a world where the workplace is becoming more and more flexible, it’s essential to possess agility. You have to be ready to move and make changes with your company. This is the only way to keep growing and evolving as an employee, and to show your boss that you are a treasured member of the team.
3. Curiosity
Workers who are curious are always looking for ways to become better and ways to do more. Learning is fun for them, and something they choose to seek out. Kaufman said he looks for candidates that are “curious about why things work the way they work. They’re curious about why people behave in a certain way.”
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Forbes contributor Benjamin Laker acknowledged that curiosity is not something people usually think of when they list traits important to business acumen. But, he said, it is key to innovation, one of the most important things in business. “Curiosity is the fuel that powers innovation,” he stated. “At its core, curiosity is the desire to understand how things work, why things happen, and how problems can be solved. It’s the driving force that pushes people to explore new ideas, ask the right questions and seek out better solutions.”
Without curiosity, there would be no innovation, and without innovation, there would really be no business. Innovation and creation are essential to growing and thriving organizations that do not remain stagnant.
Possessing these three traits is a sign that you are truly irreplaceable in the workforce. With killer instincts, agility and curiosity, you prove that you are a strong employee who is worth paying attention to. Powerful people like Kaufman will keep an eye out for you, which means you could end up in bigger roles than you ever imagined.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.