Have you ever wondered what types, what vibes help people get promoted? It's not just skills that's become obvious to me and many others. I've been incredibly frustrated to see leader's nephew get promoted or neighbor or whatever, when they are the possibly worst person to promote. Out of many. I've also seen the exact right person get promoted. I've been lucky enough to promote those people, tell them, Hey, you've done so incredible.
This looks like what you wanna do, and we wanna give it to you and let you run with it. However, there is more to this and there are skills that you can adapt or try and get rid of that will help you grow. Today I'm exploring the question that hopefully you've wondered about. Do certain personality traits themselves help you get promoted? I can't list every skill here 'cause it completely depends on the job, right? The skills are. A part of this, but not everything.
So do certain personality traits help you get promoted? The answer is yes. And there's some science that backs this up as well. So we're gonna combine my observations with some research. The big five personality traits are what comes into play here, and I'm gonna. Dig into which one of these are linked to promotions, how they can play out differently by job type, and what you can actually do to improve your promote ability no matter what your natural wiring is.
The Big five personality traits are openness to experience, so that is curiosity, creativity, willingness to try new things, conscientiousness, so organization, dependability, work ethic, extroversion. I hate to say this for you introverts, but sociability, assertiveness, comfort with visibility is huge. Agreeableness. Being able to cooperate, being kind. Try and do that as often as possible, and a desire to maintain harmony and neuroticism.
And emotional instability, anxiety, sensitivity to stress. Low neuroticism means high emotional stability. Those are the traits that are, they're relatively stable over time. You're probably not going to become a totally different person, but you can build skills that enhance these traits. Most likely to help you succeed. If you are an introvert, you're probably. Born that way.
But you can take little steps to be a little more outspoken, to show up to more events, to be more visible at your company because it's hard to get promoted when very few people know you're there or you don't push your skills and accomplishments like extroverts tend to do nonstop. Let's start with the big ones. Which is starting with extroversion.
People that are high in extroversion get noticed, and even if they get noticed for a lot of bad things along with the good things, when you're top of mind, it just makes a difference. They speak up in meetings, build networks at work, outside of work, and tend to make strong. First impressions, the visibility often leads to more opportunities.
It's just the way it's, I found a study published by The Journal of Vocational Behavior and it found that extroverts have higher satisfaction with promotions and were more likely to move up. They enjoy getting promotions more than introverts. Doesn't mean introverts are doomed. We'll get to that later. It does mean being seen and heard plays a big role conscientiousness. This means reliable, organized people who deliver on their promises, those people tend to get promoted.
Uh, especially by owners and managers that are a little more strict on things. This trait is consistently linked with high performance reviews across industries. Even if your work isn't the best. Doing it on time, submitting it on time, things like that. Being reliable in those ways is super important. If you had to bet on one trait for long-term career success, this is probably it. Think about the people who are always late for the work. Zoom meetings, don't send what they need always.
Ha. Like when you say, Hey, is this project due? They're like, uh, what? Um, oh, I forgot about that. Sorry. It's really hard to wanna promote people like that, especially when they're consistently that way. Number three is emotional stability. People who handle stress well, who stay cool under pressure tend to earn more trust. A jobless survey found that 30% of people with high neuroticism have never been promoted compared to just 20% of those with high emotional stability.
That's a actually a big difference. What are the other traits? Openness to experience can help in creative fields like advertising design. Innovative roles, but it's not as tightly tied to promotions across the board. What helps with this most and what I've witnessed holds a lot of people back, and I see this a lot more of people that are further later in their careers, is resistance to change.
Being the first person to utter that you don't like a new system, or that you're gonna quit if they implement it, or that you just got new software, now you have to learn something new. All of those things, right? That resistance does not help companies move forward. And of course, agreeableness, it's a wild card. It helps you be a team player, but too much agreeableness might actually I think, hold you back in promotion discussions and salary negotiations.
You need to advocate for yourself and when you're always putting the team first or wanting other people to succeed as well. I know it sounds mean, but. Sometimes you'll be seen as oh, uh, if, if we don't give Matthew this promotion, he won't mind. He's always cool with everything. We'll give it to someone else instead because they're really pushing hard for it. It does depend on the job. The same trait can be an advantage in one role and a disadvantage in another.
In sales and client facing roles, extroversion is really important In programming or research, introversion might be just fine or even preferred, like you don't necessarily like you want some roles like that. To get their head down and get a lot done. And when they're constantly talking to their coworkers, that's, they're not get moving towards the things you want them to move towards. And creative industries, openness is a big deal.
In more structured environments like law or accounting, conscientiousness and emotions, emotional stability are much more important than openness and creativeness. And maybe in law, creativeness can help you. S win a case or seize things from a different angle, but for the most part, you need to adhere to what the books say. Same thing with accounting. We have all heard the term, or many of us have heard the term creative accounting. It's not always looked at as a good thing.
A little bit riskier that way. A study from the University of Edinburgh found that extroversion and openness showed the largest differences across job types. Know your strengths and where they shine. That matters. I don't think being an extrovert. Will necessarily hurt you in jobs where it's not needed. You just need to know how to balance it and see if maybe you're frustrating. Your coworkers or your bosses are noticing that you're talking and gossiping or whatever, more than you're working.
Do you see how these balances matter? how do you work with your personality and not against it? One of the things I like to talk about, I probably don't talk about enough, and something I've learned and OB observed, is if you try and do or be something that you're not naturally good at in a professional role, you will exhaust yourself. If you're an introvert and you wanna make a lot more money, so you try and have a sales job that works.
I've actually known some incredibly successful salespeople that are complete introverts. They make it work however. However, is many of you introverts might know? No, or have recognized in yourselves. If you're introverted and you go to a big conference, you'll be like completely exhausted by the first day. The second day, it drains all the energy out of you for an extrovert, they'll go to those and they'll be more amped up. They'll stay up till 4:00 AM talking to everybody.
Trying to be something you're not will exhaust you and it probably won't work out. Now, obviously if you're a little introverted or you're introverted, doesn't mean it. Cuts off everything. It's just understanding that your motivation for doing things needs to be grounded in what you know you're good at, what you can get better at, and not things that will kill you if you try and do. Personality traits are fairly stable.
Skills aren't so you can develop the behaviors that boost promotability without pretending or trying to be something you're not and likely won't ever completely be. If you're introverted, you don't have to become that social butterfly. But building better communication skills, especially in meetings and interviews, learning about. Pace and saying and understanding exactly what needs to be said to close the deal, to get the point across.
Uh, something like Toast Masters or even joining a group project can boost your visibility without burning you out. I had a guest a while ago who has the Improve IT program and she. Does improv classes in the corporate world, which is one of those things that I think would help an introvert a lot. I, I wanna do it myself, right? Help you be quick on your feet and shake off some of those nerves. If you're high in neuroticism, it's not your fault. But it is your responsibility.
So practice mindfulness exercises, talk to a coach or therapist to help you through some of these things that you've noticed and I've identified. Come up at work, managing your stress and. Presenting calm under pressure can absolutely shift how others see you. I am not going to recommend how to get better in those areas. I think a therapist or a coach could help you do that.
It's so different for each person, but finding things and pushing a little bit out of your comfort zone can make a big difference. If you can identify that you're low in conscientiousness, use systems, set reminders. Use a planner, respect them. Track your deadlines. You can build structure into your day and earn or re-earn the reputation of being dependable. This is something you can fix.
It might not come natural, but you can do it, and if you don't, you're gonna stay stuck if you're too agreeable. This is a challenge of mine. I'm either way too disagreeable and it's fun, and I love debating things. Most of the time I find myself I can be a little too nice. Learn to speak up for your values. Practice negotiation. Being kind and being assertive aren't mutually exclusive. You can be both. I. I'll note that sometimes I've noticed in people, they decide I'm gonna be assertive.
I'm gonna be a boss. I'm a I, you've maybe heard people, maybe you've said this. I'm gonna stop saying yes to everything and just say no, and not make excuses. All you can do your style, but just remember some people come to you and they just wanna be nice. And so if someone says, Hey, you want to go out for, grab dinner with all of us after work today, if you just say no. Because you're standing up for yourself and you're not making excuses or anything like that.
Just realize that some people are just keeping it simple and being nice and inviting you and being too assertive or too, like standing your ground too much on things that don't matter when people are trying to be kind or help you. I've seen that backfire and a lot of people, they don't realize they're doing it or being that way. They're trying something new and it can come off as, I'd just say unpleasant, unkind.
Some real world scenarios, an extrovert and conscientious sales rep, so she networks well, consistently hits her, net her numbers, and speaks confidently in meetings. Unsurprisingly, she's fast track to sales. Manager or just making way more money and not being sales manager. A brilliant but introverted programmer writes, follow code, always meets deadlines, but he's quiet in meetings and leadership isn't aware of any of his contributions unless he starts communicating his value more clearly.
Tracking and saying it out loud. He might get passed up for promotions despite being clearly capable, maybe his manager or coworker is taking credit. Different traits, different strengths, different paths to growth. Both people could make the exact same amount of money and have the exact same satisfaction. Your personality isn't your. Destiny, and it doesn't define your ceiling, it just tells you what ladder you are currently climbing. Promotions don't go to the perfect personality.
They go to people who learn, adapt, and leverage their strengths while addressing their gaps. When I coach people, one of the biggest things we coach on is if you're asked about your weaknesses, identifying a weakness is good, and we work out which type to identify. Everyone can identify weaknesses. The people who grow and get promoted, get hired, earn trust.
They're the people who not only identify weaknesses, they put together structured game plans to improve and say that out loud at something like a job interview. So here's some homework for you. I would highly recommend you take. Uh, a big five assessment. They're free. Along with that, you can obviously do like personality type assessments, find reputable ones, uh, strengths finders, disc. There's a bunch out there that mesh professional and personal.
Identify your top traits and identify your blind spots. Choose one skill to build this month. That aligns with your goals. And I'd say, remember, when it comes to promotion, it's not about just changing who you are to get it. It's about growing who you are, leveraging your top skills and strengths and personality strengths, and doing what it takes, figuring out what you need to do to grow and mature into the next level.
These same qualities, these same personality traits are things that I learn to quickly observe in job interviews. Not that I nail it all at once, or that I'm a psychologist who can identify all of this just by sitting across from someone, but it's very easy to see if someone is interviewing for. A sales job and they are highly introverted. I can, you can tell that within the first couple seconds.
You can tell how they'll sit across from clients from the way they sit across to you in an interview. Also, I've interviewed some highly neurotic people who show up a certain way, behave a certain way, and despite them having a lot of experience, sometimes it's just not the right job for them. Sometimes we have something else that might have been better for them.
None of these things are a showstopper, but being able to control and understand these things about you, it was the first step to freedom and moving forward without things holding you back. And like I said, leveraging the things that once you understand them, can propel you way further forward faster and easier than if you were just going at it blind. I've observed so much of this.
Doing research on It was also super interesting to see how research findings and data align with the things I've observed. I hope that you take some time to do some soul searching. None of these are bad. None of these are good. These all have a place and a certain job type that aligns with them. And then there's that gr amazing gray area.
The introverted CEOs, the CEOs that don't know anything about the product or like the technology that just kill it and are the very best in the industry and, uh, completely break all the barriers. So none of this is defined understanding. It is required. Thanks for listening. Talk to you again soon.