Ten attributes of a good employee Apm23,1997 By Bill gates I'm often asked how to be a good manager, a topic I've taken on in this column more than once. Less often does anybody ask an equally important question: What makes a good employee? Here are 10 of the qualities I find in the"best and brightest"employees, the people companies should attract and retain If you have all of these attributes, you're probably a terrific employe First, it's important to have a fundamental curiosity about the product or products of your company or group. You have to use the products yourself This can't be stressed enough in the computer world. It also carries special weight in other knowledge-based fields where technology and practices are ad vancing so fast that' s it's very hard to keep up. If you don' t have a fascination with the products, you can get out of date--and become ineffective--pretty quickly Second, you need a genuine interest in engaging customers in discussions about how they use products-what they like, what they don't like. You have to be a bit of an evangelist with customers, and yet be realistic about where your company's products are falling short and could be better Third, once you understand your customers needs, you have to enjoy thinking through how a product can help. If you work in the software industry, for example you might ask: " How can this product make work more interesting? How can it make learning more interesting? How can it be used in the home in more interesting These first three points are related. Success comes from understand ing and caring deeply about your products, your technology and your customers'needs Fourth, you as an individual employee should maintain the same type of long-term approach that a good company does Employees need to focus on lifelong goals such as developing their own skills and those of the people they work with. This kind of self-motivation requires discipline, but it can be quite rewarding Management can also encourage motivation, of course. If you're in sales, quotas are important tools for measuring performance, and it's great when employees beat a quota. But if beating your sales quota or maximizing your next bonus or salary increase is all that motivates you, you're likely to miss out on the kind of teamwork and development that create success in the long term Fifth, you need to have specialized knowledge or skills while maintaining a broad perspective. Big companies, in particular, need employees who can learn specialtiesTen attributes of a good employee April 23, 1997 By Bill Gates I'm often asked how to be a good manager, a topic I've taken on in this column more than once. Less often does anybody ask an equally important question: What makes a good employee? Here are 10 of the qualities I find in the "best and brightest" employees, the people companies should attract and retain. If you have all of these attributes, you're probably a terrific employee. First, it's important to have a fundamental curiosity about the product or products of your company or group. You have to use the products yourself. This can't be stressed enough in the computer world. It also carries special weight in other knowledge-based fields where technology and practices are advancing so fast that's it's very hard to keep up. If you don't have a fascination with the products, you can get out of date--and become ineffective--pretty quickly. Second, you need a genuine interest in engaging customers in discussions about how they use products--what they like, what they don't like. You have to be a bit of an evangelist with customers, and yet be realistic about where your company's products are falling short and could be better. Third, once you understand your customer's needs, you have to enjoy thinking through how a product can help. If you work in the software industry, for example, you might ask: "How can this product make work more interesting? How can it make learning more interesting? How can it be used in the home in more interesting ways?" These first three points are related. Success comes from understanding and caring deeply about your products, your technology and your customers' needs. Fourth, you as an individual employee should maintain the same type of long-term approach that a good company does. Employees need to focus on lifelong goals such as developing their own skills and those of the people they work with. This kind of self-motivation requires discipline, but it can be quite rewarding. Management can also encourage motivation, of course. If you're in sales, quotas are important tools for measuring performance, and it's great when employees beat a quota. But if beating your sales quota or maximizing your next bonus or salary increase is all that motivates you, you're likely to miss out on the kind of teamwork and development that create success in the long term. Fifth, you need to have specialized knowledge or skills while maintaining a broad perspective. Big companies, in particular, need employees who can learn specialties