The simple thing to look for when hiring leaders

Warren Buffett knows a thing or two about business success, so when he has advice on hiring, it’s a good idea to listen.

The billionaire CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said he looks for three main things when selecting top talent: intelligence, initiative or energy, and integrity. However, he doesn’t weigh the three equally — Buffett says integrity is most important. Without it, all the intelligence and initiative in the world doesn’t really matter.

It’s a fairly straightforward concept, but I think it’s an accurate and important one. Within our vision, mission and values at Plus, integrity is a recurring theme. We employ the world’s “best employees who care and want to make a difference,” and one of our six core values is “Radical Integrity.”

Your company may also reflect integrity in its vision, values or mission statement, and that’s probably not by accident. It’s vital to have integrity within your company, especially at the leadership level. As the article below lays out, there are six main reasons you can make the business case for hiring/promoting leaders with integrity:

• Leaders with integrity draw others to them.
• Leaders with integrity care about the welfare of others.
• Leaders with integrity are not afraid of change.
• Leaders with integrity shine the spotlight on others.
• Leaders with integrity are approachable.
• Leaders with integrity act selflessly.

Do the leaders at your company act with integrity and display these traits?