Deborah Benton, author of Lions Don’t Need to Roar, is a leadership-developmental expert based in Fort Collins, Colorado. She’s observed many hundreds of CEOs, COOs and company presidents with an eye on what enables them to get so much done.She finds that while it’s essential to be competent in one’s position, inspire confidence in others, act accordingly at business functions, and become adept at maneuvering within the firm, “empty suits” don’t make it to the top, or anywhere near there. Benton says “top people are not magical, blessed, or dramatically different from you or me. They simply have skills and outlooks that the rest of us don’t have, but can get,” such as taking calculated risks and enhancing their “people” skills.

Taking Calculated Risks

Top achievers understand that staying put can be risky and so they take decisive action. In their book, Surfacing the Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business, authors Richard Pascale, Mark Milleman, and Linda Gioja argue that “equilibrium is a precursor to death.”

The people who get things done have the guts to speak in front of others, take calculated risks — realizing that the experience will be invaluable — and make that phone call that others would rather avoid. Benton knows of executive managers who have called individuals months after they were fired from their firm to “see how they were doing.”

One company executive remarked that when he evaluated a job candidate, he would get leery if the candidate appeared to be too good. “If I see no failures, I assume he’s had it too easy.” Could this mean that, on the path to accomplishing a lot, now and then you’re going to have some failures? The notion of taking calculated risks runs deep among the get-it-done types.

People Are the Common Denominator

A popular stereotype holds that those high-achievers tend to be stodgy types. However, Benton finds the situation to be the opposite. Get-it-done type executives laugh and smile often, are fond of telling stories as long as they convey a point, and know how and when to physically touch others. They’re also well-skilled in the ability to ask for favors and they fully realize how important that makes others feel.

Regardless of how high-tech society becomes, people make deals, make products, and provide services. Pacesetters learn the essential elements about interacting with people that many others never do. A veteran manager in one manufacturing company allocates a portion of his day to making personal contact with the people who report to him and the buyers in client companies. He cares, and he wants his employees to care, about their company and customers.

Reading Others

Get-it-done types in larger organizations learn to “read” others in great detail and to recognize the importance of paying attention to others’ needs. By “observing aggressively” anyone can learn to read people, and by reading people, work better with them. Meeting those needs enables successful people to negotiate deals skillfully, manage employees responsibly with the least amount of stress and resistance, gain information, or enlist people to support their cause. The crucial characteristic required in this process is that of “aggressive observation.”

Aggressive observation, a phrase coined two decades ago by the late Mark McCormack, author of Staying Street Smart in the Internet Age, requires working with people face-to-face whenever possible because what you observe about a person is far more revealing than what you hear or read. When two people meet, aggressive observation requires that a person take action, carefully listening to the content of the conversation and watching for signals in body language.

One of the widely observed traits that high achievers possess is resilience. Resilience entails adopting behaviors to meet challenges, but it is more than simply enduring a challenging situation or overcoming an ordeal. It means having the ability to come back even stronger than before. Getting big things done at work, or even winning a long-term personal struggle, requires resilience which is demonstrated through patience, alertness, and steadfastness. These behaviors set the stage for adaptation and action.

Why is resilience fundamental to dealing with upheaval in our professional or personal lives? Because, quite simply, those who have resilience flourish!

Resilient people are able to establish a balance — they believe they’ll succeed; they sharpen their focus on the tasks at hand, they stay loose, and they roll with the punches. They maintain orderliness and self-awareness, largely to avoid becoming overwhelmed and confused.

While resilient individuals are as vulnerable to the anxieties of change as anyone else, they’re able to regain balance quickly, stay physically and emotionally healthy, and remain productive when confronted by confusing or gloomy situations.

Recognizing that Setbacks are not Forever

When nothing is working, resilient individuals still manage to figure out how to get back on track. They apply such ingenuity to daily tasks, long term projects, group or team relations, or problems with the boss. If they lose a client, they’re willing to undertake the rigorous assessment as to why. If something’s going wrong on a project, they jump right in to see why. They consider the possibilities, take each one and follow it through for whatever insights may emerge.

Resilient people are adept at managing sudden, significant, and complex change with minimum dysfunctional behavior. Their capability can be a marvel to behold. Rather than shrink from controversy, they’re more likely to dive into the fray. They take a stand-up role, admitting where and when they were wrong, if that be the case. They assess the choices they made that lead to the result and what other choices they could make to achieve a more desirable outcome in the future.

When they find themselves boxed in on all sides, they don’t get down or feel sorry from themselves, at least not for long. They’re willing to record their feelings, brainstorm, or even clean out the file cabinet, knowing that such activities can be therapeutic. Perhaps most vital, they determine what they can accomplish right now, today. They know that the act of getting things done, in and of itself, generally proves to be an uplifting experience, however small the deed.

By identifying, observing, and then incorporating the behaviors of resilient people, it’s possible to change your own behavior to better deal with the world around and within you. So, who in your workplace is great at getting things done, seems to roll with the punches, and doesn’t come unglued in the face of setbacks? That’s the person you want to emulate.

Realizing That Arrangements Are Temporary

While resilient types have or develop flexibility and know when to roll with the punches, in many instances they are better than average at overcoming attachment to a place, a piece of equipment, a method, or even a business philosophy. They seem to understand that, particularly in the workplace, virtually all arrangements are temporary. In any case, as a lot, resilient individuals don’t seem to be as flustered by bends in the road. If they’re thwarted in some aspect of a project, they make forward progress in others. They use what they have to get what they want.