Page 36 - Getting to the Heart of High Performance

WHAT MATTERS LEAST?

Often it sheds light on a subject to approach it through the
back door. So we encouraged these executives to consider

the 10 deep strengths from a reverse angle. Specifically, we
asked, “Which one of the 10 deep strengths do you consid-
er least important for your organization’s success?”

The results show that for-profit CEOs consider hope to be

the least important of the 10 factors. No other deep
strength comes even close. Entrepreneurs follow the
same pattern, ranking hope as the least important by a
very wide margin. Not-for-profit CEOs consider competi-

tive spirit to be the least important to their
organizations’ success, but hope trails close behind with
the second-lowest ranking.

If hope really is the least important of the deep strengths,
that makes a powerful statement about how crucial all 10 of
them are. Let’s review some additional research that makes
the point.

20 DEEP STRENGTHS