Editor’s note: This article was first published in May 2015. Steve Jobs (who died in 2011), Larry Page and Sergey Brin are presented as modern-day examples. Page and Brin stepped back from running Alphabet in 2019.
In a previous article we looked at 9 types of people who can destroy your business if you’re not careful. Today we look at the opposite, courtesy of the same author, business consultant Isaiah Hankel, who this time gives us the 9 types of people you want by your side if your business is to succeed.
See also: 4 types of people you need to hire in your company
The people on your team are crucial to your company’s success. That’s why smart business owners surround themselves with positive people, especially when business is going badly. According to Hankel, every positive person you let into your life or your business increases your chances of being positive by 15%.
Good business owners find the strengths of the people around them and bring out the best in each of them. If your business is in trouble, chances are that one of these nine people is missing.
1. The Sage
Sages are people who have been in the business for a long time. They are the teachers, managers and mentors who know how to bring out the best in the rest of the team. They use their experience to have a positive influence on the business. They help you avoid common mistakes and seize opportunities that others wouldn’t have spotted on their own.
2. The Lightning Rod
Lightning rods attract attention. They are always at the centre of things. These people are charismatic, witty and full of ideas. Their minds move quickly, and they add value to any kind of sales or marketing. They are exactly the kind of people you need to attract customers and make sales thrive.
3. The Mastermind
Masterminds are strategic people who can see the end from the beginning. Modern-day masterminds such as Steve Jobs of Apple or Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google have changed the course of humanity with their long-term thinking. If you can’t map out where you want to take your business, start surrounding yourself with as many masterminds as possible and consult them often.
4. The Golden Goose
The lightning rod attracts attention; the golden goose attracts money. These people know a great deal about how to increase a business’s revenue and profits. They are the masterful finance directors, salespeople and moneymakers who keep the company afloat. Your company can’t succeed without someone who manages the money properly.
5. The Virtuoso
Virtuosos are innovative people with specialised knowledge. They are the scientists, engineers and architects behind the world’s most incredible inventions. These people do the hardest thing in the world: create something out of nothing.
Whatever you’re trying to build, virtuosos will help you build it better and faster. They make up the brilliant R&D design teams at the best companies. Without virtuosos, no business idea will ever come to fruition.
6. The Wordsmith
Wordsmiths are people who excel at playing with words. They can organise their thoughts in speech and in writing to motivate, entertain and teach others. This group includes authors, editors, bloggers and communicators of every kind, because communication is what keeps products and services on people’s minds and on their lips.
7. The Super Connector
Super connectors are people with a great capacity for interconnected knowledge, and they use it to bring others together towards shared goals. When you get stuck in your business, the super connector is the perfect person to help you get unstuck.
8. The Gladiator
Gladiators are entrepreneurs in the purest sense. They are the ones who can push past their limits again and again and come back for more. They are also intensely loyal.
Don’t misjudge the gladiators in your company. Their intensity and overconfidence are simply the reinforcements they need to stay strong while fighting obsolete empires and towering bureaucracies.
If you find yourself lacking initiative, start surrounding yourself with as many gladiators as you can. These people know how to reach their goals no matter how many obstacles they meet along the way.
9. The Hacker
The quickest way to save your business is to start hacking it. Hackers are destroyers and creators. They strip out what isn’t needed and then rebuild better systems. They tweak the different parts of a process until it is fully optimised.
If you don’t have time to test the different parts of your business, start hiring a hacker. The amount of time and energy these people can save you is incredible.
Further reading
- How to recover after a business failure
- 8 ways to kill your employees’ motivation
- Chess strategies for winning in life and business
Featured image: Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
