Unicorns are hard to catch. Back in the 1500s, it was believed that only fair young maidens could gain the trust of these elusive, horned creatures.
Iâm no fair maiden. Still, in my time, Iâve had the luck of getting close to many magical unicorns…in the form of âunicornâ employees. Not to be confused with unicorn companiesâââstartups valued at $1 billion or moreâââunicorn employees, for me, are staff who possess a unique set of qualities that make them extremely rare and valuable. Like actual unicorns, theyâre hard to find, but once hired, offer up enormous benefits in the workplace. To name a few, they shatter expectations, raise the bar for everyone and are simply a joy to be around. Unicorn employees can literally take your business to the next level.
Whether youâre looking to build a unicorn army, or hoping to boost your own value in the workplace, here are the five key qualities of unicorn employees:
You arenât limited by your job title
In the span of about five years, my company, Hootsuite, went from a 100-person tech startup to a 1,000-person global company. Through this stage of âhyper growth,â employees who truly flourished were flexible and intellectually curious.
Earlier on in the business, this meant having the ability to wear many hats and excel at varied tasks, critical at a fast-growing startup. For example, just because somebodyâs job title was âOffice Administrator,â didnât mean she would shy away from pitching in on a major marketing campaign by helping brainstorm some catchy tweets.
For companies, itâs probably worthwhile to put some extra time and effort into chasing unicorns. Unlike their mythical counterparts, theyâre very real.
Later, as the company grew, unicorn employees jumped at the chance to dive deeper into specific, growing areas of business, which needed good people. Some even decided to move across several departments. I saw unicorn employees make surprising leapsâââone even went from financial specialist to software engineer. I think this is so important to employee growth that we recently launched a new pilot initiative, called the âstretch program,â to help people expand their knowledge and expertise across the business and grow their unicorn horns.
You think big and small
Exceptional employees are able to think strategically. This means having the ability to take a step back and see the overall company goals, or the industry as a whole, then apply it to your work. To be effective in business, you must be able to see the big picture.
On the flipside, while big-picture thinking is critical, Iâve also found that the best employees also know the devil is in the details. Running a business requires meticulous attention. A minor copyright issue, improperly executed email campaign, or even what seems like a small technical glitch can end up being catastrophic, affecting a lot of clients in a short period of time. The best employees are those who take the time to read the fine print. These are the types of people I know I can entrust with serious responsibility.
You have true grit
The concept of âgritâ has made its way into popular culture recently, perhaps sparked by psychologist Angela Duckworthâs popular TED talk and book on the subject. She defines grit as âperseverance and passion for long-term goals,â and says itâs a crucial factor to achieving success.
I couldnât agree more. Being an entrepreneur since I was a teenager, Iâve learned that the business world is like being on a boat in the open sea. Whether itâs a patch of rough waves or an unexpected storm, obstacles are inevitable. During these turbulent times, having gritâââa dogged persistenceâââcan help you keep focused on the destination. In fact, that very outlook helped my billion-dollar company weather the storm and get to the next level. Unicorn employees have true grit, and can stay calm and focused on the task at hand, even on choppy seas.
Youâre respectful by nature
The ability to work well with others is a skill that benefits any workplace. It seems simple enough, but youâd be surprised.
A few years ago, I put out a job posting for a high-level sales role. Many people applied, and after a series of interviews, I had some top candidates in mind. However, when I checked in with my executive assistant at the time, I was shocked to find out how many of those people who had been personable and courteous to me, had been downright rude to her.
Unicorn employees are respectful by nature, and would never treat someoneâââregardless of titleâââin this way. Itâs something that absolutely sets a stellar employee apart from an average one. In fact, this is so important to the well-being of our staff, itâs been built into two of our four core company values: âRespect the individual,â and âlead with humility.â
You get shit done
A few years back, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner sent out a short status update on his platform: âIn simplest terms possible, the people I most enjoy working with dream big, get shit done, and know how to have fun.â
After all, no matter how great a co-worker is to be around, if he canât produce actual results, his presence isnât ultimately helpful and may even be damaging to others.
The update blew up, striking a chord with the tens of thousands of people who commented and liked it (Weiner followed up by writing a full post on the topic). Like him, I, too, am a huge proponent of having fun at work and believe itâs crucial to success. However, I canât stress how important it is for people on the job to be able to get shit done. After all, no matter how great a co-worker is to be around, if he canât produce actual results, his presence isnât ultimately helpful and may even be damaging to others. Great teams can be shattered by a single member who canât get shit done.
Meanwhile, studies have shown that top performers contribute to a business 10 times more than their average counterparts. In fact, some firms, including Microsoft, claim that figure to be 100 times.
The bottom line: at the end of the day, you can be respectful, multi-talented, tenacious, detail-oriented, and a big thinker. But if you donât produce real results and move the needle, all those traits are wasted. You must be able to execute. Itâs an essential unicorn quality.
For companies and business leaders, itâs probably worthwhile to put some extra time and effort into chasing unicorns. Unlike their mythical counterparts, theyâre very real and they can change your company. And for unicorn employees in the making, itâs never too late to grow your strengths and make yourself more rare and valuable than ever.
Syndicated with permission from Ryan Holmes’ Medium account