If someone asked a group of your colleagues or former colleagues about you, what words would they use to describe you? Imagine that in a job interview they come out with the classic line: “Describe yourself in one word.” How do you answer that?
A single word can make all the difference in how others see you. One word can say a lot, or it can say nothing at all.
“I’m going to introduce you to Víctor, the sales rep from our supplier X. He’s a great guy.” “That Antonio is really fun.”
“Great and fun” is fine, but it tells me nothing from a business point of view. “Sara is very punctual,” but punctuality doesn’t close sales. “José is very hard-working” describes 90% of people, and it is also one of the most common expressions people use when asked to describe themselves in a single word. (Read: 40 skills you should put on your CV.) Punctual, hard-working, positive and fun signal mediocrity in today’s job jungle.
At executive level, nobody uses the words “very hard-working” or “punctual”. In marketing, brands try everything they can to be associated with one word. In Volvo’s case, the word is “safety”. Volvo would not settle for the word “great”. My suit is great too, and it’s cheaper than a Volvo truck.
“That guy is huge.” The words “huge” and “amazing” are worn out. Remember that for David Bisbal (the Spanish singer who rose to fame on the TV talent show Operación Triunfo), during his time on the show, everything was huge and amazing.
The word we are looking for in an executive is “relentless”.
These days, companies need relentless people in their leadership positions. If at a party someone asks “What’s Víctor like?” and another person answers “Víctor is relentless,” few people will forget Víctor.
That word conveys strength on its own. Saying you are relentless means the competition can’t knock you down, that you can bear the pressure and the weight of leadership, and that you will reach your goal, tearing down every obstacle in your way.
Many qualities define people at work, and you have to pay close attention to the way others perceive you, and to the embellishments people use when describing someone else. And although someone is rarely foolish enough to speak badly of another person openly, you have to know how to read between the lines.
When someone is about to introduce you to a woman or a man, sometimes they tell you that he or she is gorgeous, or really hot. In those cases, the “goods” are usually good. What happens when someone tells you that the person they are about to introduce you to is very nice, honest and from a good family? That, for some reason, you are not going to find that person physically attractive.
In business, the adjectives “very hard-working and punctual” are the equivalent of “from a good family and honest” in the dating world. Danny DeVito is honest and from a good family. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, on the other hand, would be the equivalent of relentless.
In short: “relentless” and words like it are ideal for describing yourself in a single word, as long as it is true that you are a relentless person. What other words could you use to answer this question without sounding arrogant when describing yourself? What word would you use to describe some of the people at your company? And your boss?
Further reading
- How to spot a bad employee before you hire them
- How to build resilience in the face of failure
- 8 questions that predict your success
Featured image: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
