Discover Your Attributes & Get More Out of Yourself

In “The Attributes,” you’ll find examples of attributes within five distinct categories plus a couple more that don’t fit so neatly:

• Grit
• Mental Acuity
• Drive
• Leadership
• Teamability

So, what are attributes and how are they different than skills?

“A lot of times we get seduced by skills, and we don’t think about attributes,” Rich says. “And the reason is very simple: skills are not inherent to our nature. They’re very visible, which means they’re very easy to assess, measure and test and you can put scores around them and stats around them. … Attributes are inherent to our nature. We’re all born with levels of adaptability and situational awareness and resilience.  Attributes don’t dictate our behavior or director behavior; they inform our behavior.”

A person’s skills help determine how they will respond in a predictable situation; attributes inform how they will respond when things are unpredictable, Rich says in his book.

• Attributes are elemental: we are born with them, unlike skills which we can pick up by emulating other people.
• Attributes inform, rather than direct, behavior.
• Attributes are difficult to assess, measure, and test.
• Sometimes attributes are overlooked because we don’t even know we have them (they operate in the background).

“We’re all automobiles, but we’re different types,” Rich says. “Some of us are SUVs, some of us are Ferraris, and some of us are Jeeps. It behooves us to lift our hood and figure out what engine are we running with. And that helps us identify and understand our performance.”

More about Rich Diviney: He served more than 20 years with the U.S. Navy, completing more than 13 overseas deployments, 11 of those in Afghanistan and Iraq. During his service, he led the creation of the first-ever “Mind Gym” that helped special operators train their brains to perform faster, longer, and better in all environments—especially high-stress ones. This approach fused physical, mental, and emotional disciplines. He’s also worked with thousands of business, athletic, and military leaders from organizations such as American Airlines, Meijer Inc., the San Francisco 49ers, Pegasystems, Zoom, and Deloitte to help them achieve optimal performance. He studied political science, government and history at Purdue University. He also attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.