Give me reliability over brilliance anytime.
Or I can put it this way:
I love a reliable employee who is brilliant but will make do with one even if he or she isn’t brilliant.
But a brilliant guy who is unreliable? Never!
Who is a reliable person? It is someone who we can rely or depend on to deliver the promised results.
And a brilliant person? That is someone who is extremely clever or skillful, usually at something.
We tend to believe that our skills or competence alone are enough to justify our value. Since we have the skills to do a job, we assume that other skills – the ability to keep people informed, or to reliably deliver on time – aren’t really that important.
But the truth is that when employers and clients are given the choice between a less talented worker who is really dependable, communicative, and easy to work with; and a very talented worker who is otherwise a pain in the ass; most would choose the less talented team player.
Or choose the very talented but unreliable worker – and 100% of such people regret their choice later!
In such cases, we hear such conversations:
“Your work is great. Really! But you are just impossible to work with! You do not stick to schedules. And you do not get back to me – no calls or emails. I never know whether my job will get done or not. And it usually doesn’t get done! This is too stressful. I am sorry but we cannot work together!”
Sounds familiar? Do you see this around you sometimes? And do you see a bit of that in you too?
It doesn’t matter how good you are at your job if you’re not dependable or responsive.
In fact brilliance is usually the result of sustained reliability!
Therefore, give me reliability and dependability anytime!
