Proactive people make most cash, survey says
Be honest now. Do the following statements apply to your attitude toward
your job?
- [] I excel at identifying opportunities.
- [] I enjoy facing and overcoming obstacles to my ideas.
- [] I am always looking for better ways to do things.
- [] I can spot a good opportunity long before others can.
- [] No matter what the odds, if I believe in something, I will make it happen.
If this is you, you may have the kind of "proactive personality"
employers are seeking, according to a Notre Dame management authority who
has made a study of what it takes to succeed in business by really
trying.
"Proactive persons," said J. Michael Crant, assistant professor of
management, "are people who show initiative, take action, and persevere
until they bring about meaningful change."
To test his theory, Crant created a list of 17 statements such as
those listed above and asked 131 real estate agents in the South Bend,
Ind., area to rate themselves as "proactive" workers.
Then, with their consent and the cooperation of their employers, Crant
studied their work achievements over a nine-month period.
The agents were scored on the number of home listings they compiled,
homes sold, and how much they earned in commissions.
And guess what? Agents who tested highest on the proactive personality
quiz also turned out to be the top money-makers.
They spent more time scouring the classifieds to get listings of homes
being offered by owners; they screened buyers carefully to weed out those
who were "just looking"; they even advertised their listings and
themselves on cable TV.
In sum, they worked harder and smarter.
- Top score on the 17-statement quiz was 119. The lowest score was 7, just one right. The highest score, 112.
- On average, each agent earned $27,000 in commissions from home sales. The top sales star, though, got $175,000 in commissions -- and a near perfect score on the quiz.
- More than half of the agents, 56 percent, were women who, Crant said, "fared equally compared with men."
"I found no gender differences in the study," he said.
Crant believes the proactivity scale he has created with Thomas
Bateman of the University of North Carolina "holds for all sales jobs,"
including stockbrokers, insurance and automobile sales.
In contrast with the proactive sales stars, agents who fared poorly
"exhibit the opposite patterns. They fail to identify, let alone seize,
opportunities to change things," Crant said.
"They show little initiative, and are more passive and reactive in
their lives," he added.
The idea for the study came to Crant several years ago when he put his
home up for sale and "the phone rang off the hook" from real estate
agents who wanted his listing.
The episode started him thinking about why some agents showed so much
initiative and whether such initiative could be measured.
The result was the test for proactive personalities, also known in the
past as "go-getters."
American work horses
Average number of full time hours worked per week:
United States (1994) 43.3 (ALL) - 44.8 (MEN) - 44.1 (WOMAN)
European Union (1992 latest figures) 40.3 (ALL) - 41.1 (MEN) - 38.7 (WOMAN)
Source:The Tampa Tribune - March 9, 1995 - A Reuters Report
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