The Problem with Best Practices - Why They Don't Work (Part I) September 2010

Capitalizing on Credibility - What's the Biggest Payoff? August 2010

The Myth of Client-Focus July 2010

Marketing Therapy - Just lie back and relax... June 2010

The Producer's Guide to Asking Questions May 2010

Questions - The Shortest Path from Prospect to Client April 2010

How to Build Your Credibility March 2010

Credibility's Impact on YOUR Bottom Line February 2010

How to Use Social Media in Your Business December 2009

Psychological Analysis of Your Marketing September 2009

How Contrarian Logic Makes Sales for You August 2009

Words that Sell - How to Use Psychology in Your Marketing and Selling July 2009

The Secrets of Marketing Psychology (Part I) June 2009

You've been replaced by a cartoon! May 2009

8 Ways to Distinguish Yourself in a Challenging Market (Part II) April 2009

8 Ways to Distinguish Yourself in a Challenging Market (Part I) March 2009

The Worst Mistake in Selling Financial Services January 2009

Fighting for Success! The “Special Forces” Approach December 2008

Yours - Free! November 2008

First-Impressions of Credibility - Part One October 2008

Article Index

What would you do if Warren Buffett came to you and said, "I need your help. It is imperative that the financial industry start hiring better leaders. I need you to figure out how to recognize them in an interview. Can you do it?" What would you do?

Across America and in every possible industry, companies are crying for effective leaders. But they don't know how to find them. Too often, they find control freaks or bureaucrats. Having worked in corporate America for nearly eight years, I got to see that play out many times.

The problem is simple. In fact, the solution is simple. The problem is that Human Resources people don't know what psychological characteristics make-up a leader. Managers don't know either. As a result, HR people hire folks who are capable of working and thinking inside the box, rather than improving it. Managers tend to hire in their own image.

Do you know the psychological profile of a leader? And even if you did, would you know how to spot it in an interview?

Across America, around the globe, organizations are pondering the following questions:
How can you spot a leader?
What characteristics do they possess?
How do they think?
How do they make decisions?
What separates leaders from bureaucrats?

Most people who find themselves in a hiring situation reach for the nearest personality test or other psychometric assessment to help them understand who they're interviewing. Unfortunately, that's a big No No. The EEOC has a problem with giving a psychometric assessment to determine if someone meets a certain criteria. So, you can't use Myers-Briggs or DISC or any of those types of instruments.

So, what does that leave you with? It leaves you with a choice; you can either hire people you like or people who are like you. Too often, neither option is good. However, there is third option. What if you could recognize leaders by the way they talk and the things they say? What if you could read beyond the content and facts in their conversation and look deep into their minds, simply by paying attention to the way they talk? You would be significantly more effective and successful.

Let's look at a few of the characteristics you might want in a leader.

1. Vision. An ability to see into the future and spot problems and opportunities
2. Confidence. Not arrogance or hard-headedness, but confidence in their ability to make things happen
3. Energy. The energy to initiate activity and energy to keep going
4. Creativity. The ability to come up with different approaches to age-old problems
5. Goal-driven. People who focus on goals achieve them more than those who don't.
6. People-focused. Leaders motivate people. The people who focus on people have the best chance of influencing them.

NOTE: if you have a different profile of a leader, please look below and send it to me via that feedback form.

The way AboutPeople finds those characteristics is by looking for "Mental Filters." That's the pedestrian term for a specific area of psychology called "Meta Programs." Meta Programs are the sixty individual switches inside a person's mind that determine how he or she filters for and uses information. Specific behaviors are determined (driven) by specific Meta Programs. AboutPeople refers to those driving Meta Programs as a person's "Mental Filter configuration."

Let's take a quick look at the qualities we identified above and what we might look for in an interview.

Vision. The ability to see into the future is held exclusively by people who fall on the intuitive side of the Sensor/Intuitive continuum. They talk about ideas, concepts, possibilities.

Confidence. True confidence is actually a measure of where the person's standards for good and appropriate are set. If you can recognize where those standards are established, you will know if the person is confident or needs support and encouragement from others.

Energy. The key to this mental filter is in the initiation, and the key to recognizing it is in listening for action verbs. People initiate activity, think and speak in active verbs. Those who don't speak about doing, jumping in, getting involved or other activities will more than likely be passive. Good leaders are not passive.

Creativity. You've heard the expression, "out of the box." That refers to someone who is able to succeed in new or untested water. The Meta Program for this is called "Options." And, it refers to someone who needs to find a new or different way to do something.

Goal-driven. People who focus on and are driven to accomplish goals will tend to achieve more goals. This Meta Program is called "Toward," because that's the direction they move in.

People-focused. If you compared a typical engineer and a typical HR professional, you would find that the engineer focuses on things, and the HR person focuses on people. The simple rule is, people who focus on things find it difficult to motivate people. And, you can't be an effective leader if you can't motivate people.

Way back in the early 1980s, a friend of ours named Rodger Bailey used this body of knowledge to help Southwest Airlines change the way it hired flight attendants. The rest is airline history. If you've ever flown on Southwest, you know how good those flight attendants are. Now, imagine you could hire leaders or office managers, sales people — or clients for that matter — with just as much success. Does that get your mind churning?

Your Reward. If you will look at the bottom of this article, you will find a way to send me a personal note. If you will send me the type of person you most want to find, I'll send you the most important mental filter to look for. Be sure to include your contact information. Use "Mental Filters" as the subject.

MICHAEL LOVAS is the author of ten books, three columns, and a thousand articles on Professional Credibility and the Psychology of Communication in the financial industry. He's the co-founder of AboutPeople and the founder of Credibility Marketing.

Michael speaks at conferences and seminars in Canada and the US. He is an inspiring trainer and coach who helps advisors improve their businesses. He holds three prestigious certifications: Licensed Master Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), Licensed Trainer of NLP; and Clinical Hypnotherapist. They make Michael an expert at helping financial professionals succeed at a higher level by building more meaningful business relationships.

AboutPeople Books:

1. (NEW) Questions Are the Answer! - A guide for using questions effectively in sales conversations
2. (NEW) Axis of Influence! - How credibility & likeability intersect to drive success!
3. (NEW) Words that Sell - The language of psychological marketing & selling
4. Face Values - How to read people and connect with them in less than 3 minutes!
5. The Boomer Report - The financial advisor's guide to understanding the boomer mind
6. Presentation Magic - How to gain a psychological advantage in your seminars and sales presentations
7. The 5 Levels of Rapport - How to create a meaningful connection with people who are important to you
8. Magnetic Connections - Consultative selling for financial professionals
9. IDENTITY - How to create and deliver the most important statement of your business life
10. Inside the Mind of the Senior Market
11. Beyond Wave Marketing - How to add credibility to your relationship marketing

Find AboutPeople books at: www.aboutpeople.com

Michael Lovas, C.Ht.
AboutPeople
(509) 465-5599
1503 E. Riverview Dr.
Colbert, WA 99005
www.aboutpeople.com

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