People make up teams. Every person on your team has different skills and every team member’s skill set brings something to the table. Team members also possess different behavioral styles, motivators, and different competencies. In addition, every team member has various levels of business acumen, and of course diverse levels of EQ. Is EQ more important than skill sets? Can an entire team have an EQ score?

Working out of my home office one day waiting on a client, I looked out the door and saw an elderly woman walking up the driveway and saw her car was in the street partially blocking access to the driveway. Walking out to meet her and to see what she wanted, she stated that her car had broken down and needed assistance. I asked, “Who can you call?” She replied, “I don’t have a phone.” I immediately began looking behind trees to see who might be backing up this woman and her scam claiming she had no phone.  As it turns out, this poor woman didn’t have an auto club membership, had no phone, had no credit card, and had no debit card. The reason? She was trying to protect her privacy!! Has managing our personal data come down to choosing between privacy and personal safety?

When beginning research for this blog post, the angle was in a different vein than what the reader sees here. The original angle gave way to some pithy posts on social media such as:

• Even the best leaders are only as good as the people around them.
• Savvy CEOs ensure their executives come from varied backgrounds and experience.
• Good leaders possess: Accountability, Resourcefulness, and Self-confidence etc., etc., etc. There is a plethora of skills future leaders will require for their success as well as that of their organizations. Deeper research began revealing some food for thought.

1. There is little organizational loyalty and job hopping has become so common place that now companies are even “renting” employees instead of hiring them.
2. According to an article on the site of Hult International Business School, most companies hire their CEOs from within after climbing the corporate ladder.

What’s wrong with this picture? It begs the question, even if people do have good skills, where will we find the next generation of leadership?

Being successful at anything, but especially in a career, does not involve a total focus on self. First, none of us can do anything without help from other people. If people aren’t aware you exist, how can they be of help to you in your career? Better yet, a good question is, if you go around connecting other people, what’s the benefit for you?