CRITICAL THINKING
How you put information together—what
you notice, things you connect, what you discard, how you
determine what is important and what is not, what you remember
and what you don’t—this constitutes critical thinking.
Developing this skill is imperative to executive success.
DECISIVENESS
Pulling the trigger, making the call,
saying ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ decisiveness is
a hallmark of executive effectiveness. Decisiveness is not
a matter of speed or even precision, it is a matter of good
judgment. And good judgment is a function of good critical
thinking.
CLARITY OF COMMUNICATION
It follows naturally that if you think
well and make solid decisions, your ability to communicate
clearly will be enhanced. Choosing the right words and using
the most effective medium for your message are important
elements as well.
INTEGRITY OF WORD AND ACT
It seems such a simple thing to make
our actions match our words, but many executives struggle
with this skill. Disappointment and shaken confidence are
almost always byproducts of a breach of word and act. This
breach reflects weakness in other skills.
CONSISTENCY
If people you work with wonder who’s
going to show up today when they think of you, that’s
a good sign you need to work on this skill. Consistency
does not mean doing the same things in the same way day
after day in rote fashion, but in having a method of dealing
with your work that is stable and generally predictable.
To gauge your level of confidence in these
five skills take our Mirror Test.
