Tenacity in Your Professional Life

The One Key Quality Leaders Looks For in Their Workforce

I once asked a manager, “What’s the one quality you’d like to see in an employee?”\

He replied, “Tenacity”.

Unless you’re a brain surgeon or rocket scientist, the skill that is more important to your professional life than just about anything else is tenacity. Being able to persevere when the going gets tough and sticking to a project, task, or deadline is one of the most desirable traits of an employee and business owner alike.

It doesn’t matter what field of work you’re in. It doesn’t matter if you are a hired help, a career professional, or an entrepreneur, tenacity will serve you well throughout your professional life.

Here’s why it’s so important.

We live in a word that’s very different from that our grandparents grew up in. We no longer start out at a company right out of high school and retire from there at age 65 with a gold watch and a secure pension.

Instead, our world has become much faster paced. We frequently change jobs and sometimes even careers. Even when we stay with the same company the scope of our work changes frequently. That brings all sorts of new challenges with it. There are more setbacks, roadblocks, and new skills to learn than ever before.

Gone is the industrial revolution and even the dot com era! Let’s welcome the AI (Artificial Intelligence) revolution.

Even with my own career as a professional speaker, presenting virtually and using technology from the stage are skills that I’ve had to learn and adapt.

The one personality trait, virtue, skill, habit or whatever you want to call it that will help you get through it all and come out on top is tenacity.

What is Tenacity?

Watch this short video.

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Look back on the last new job you started, or a big challenge you’ve faced at work in the past. It was tough to get through those workdays. It took a lot of concentration and energy to figure out what you were supposed to be doing and it was exhausting, but you got through it eventually.

Whenever you’re faced with new challenges, it takes a tenacious mind to make it through the work week successfully.

That’s why I think if there’s one skill you should continually work on developing, it’s tenacity. It will serve you well no matter what changes your current position brings, what your next job looks like, or what you face in the workplace.

Tenacity Tips

• Tenacity is a Habit
• Plan it Out
• Schedule it
• Track Your Progress
• Keep Your Eye on the Ball
• Hire a Coach
• Play on a Team
• Immerse Yourself in What You Want to Accomplish
• Change Your Belief System
• Stay Motivated
• Ignore Naysayers
• Thrive on Your Past Successes

Now get to work on becoming more tenacious.