The Five Talents That Really Matter: How Great Leaders Drive Extraordinary Performance

A former Gallup Global Leadership Research and Development leader and the New York Times bestselling coauthor of Strengths-Based Leadership demystifies the aura and complexity surrounding high performing leaders through original research and interviews with high-performing global leaders.

The leadership space is rife with myths, such as the belief that anyone can be a leader with enough effort or that a leader’s strengths can be their greatest weaknesses. According to Barry Conchie and his business partner Sarah Dalton, these statements are complete BS. The Five Talents That Really Matter dispels the fluff in leadership literature, unveiling the traits and characteristics that truly determine high-performance leadership.

This book serves as a guide, stripping away misconceptions and providing a template against which career-driven managers and leaders can assess and develop their capabilities. The five evidence-based talent dimensions are:

• Setting Direction: High-performing leaders guide their organizations through complex situations and articulate the value that so many employees find motivational and engaging.
• Building Energy: Driven by a burning work ethic, Talented leaders set an exacting example. They measure progress, and recognize that the most Talented employees beneath them demand their greatest attention and support.
• Exerting Pressure: Talented leaders assert a clear point of view and persuasively drive change and improvement, never settling for average outcomes.
• Increasing Connectivity: Outstanding leaders prioritize people, establishing effective followership through purposeful and ethical behavior, and demonstrating care and concern for those they lead.
• Controlling Traffic: High performing leaders understand their organizations, driving superior performance by establishing protocols and guardrails while showing agility and flexibility when circumstances change.

Through meticulous research, assessment, and testing, Conchie and Dalton have built a database that predicts the talents and behaviors of the most successful leaders. In this book they present for the first the first time a scientific model that demystifies the aura and complexity surrounding high performing leaders.

Barry Conchie is Founder & President of Conchie Associates. Previously he headed the Gallup organization’s Global Leadership Research and Development business and served until 2013 as a Senior Scientist. He is the NYT and WSJ best-selling co-author of Strengths-Based Leadership. His work for Gallup began in London where he developed their leadership consulting business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, before moving to Washington, DC to assume global responsibilities in 2002. Barry’s current research is in the science of decision making, heuristics and cognitive bias. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Sarah Dalton is a Partner at Conchie & Associates. She is certified in conducting executive level talent assessments and regularly advises leaders on the dominant ways in which they can achieve success while raising critical questions to help them become more effective. Originally from San Francisco, California, she is currently based in Denver, Colorado.