Soft Skills, Hard Skills, Attributes, Traits, Competencies—these words sometimes get used interchangeably when we talk about assessment and team building. As the momentum around skills-based hiring increases, it is important to know what we really mean when we talk about skills generically and how exactly we are measuring someone's ability to do a particular role.

My guest this week is Rich Diviney, founder of The Attributes. Rich is a former Commanding Officer in the US Navy SEALs, where he was responsible for assessing and selecting the elite of the elite for the famous SEAL Team Six.

He now speaks and writes about the use of attributes in team building and hiring. We had a fantastic discussion about the difference between skills and attributes in the context of hiring and development. We also discuss my somewhat surprising results from taking Rich's attributes test. 

In the interview, we discuss:

• Identifying the elite of the elite for SEAL Team Six

• The difference between attributes and skills

• Understanding how people react in times of stress, challenge, and uncertainty

• How do you measure and assess attributes?

• Are soft skills and attributes the same thing?

• Can you develop attributes?

• The difference between perseverance, resilience, and tenacity

• What are companies getting wrong when it comes to skills and hiring?

• The "Dream Team Paradox"

• When AI takes over skills, attributes become even more critical.

• What does the future look like for hiring and managing talent?

You can get 15% of The Attributes Assessment by using the code RECRUITING15

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