10 Traits of Successful Professionals in English [Advanced Vocabulary]

Hey, it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English.

This is exactly where you want to be to get the confidence you want for your

life and your work in English.

If you have a job interview in English or a job performance review,

there are some words you should definitely be using an English to talk about

your business traits and to do it successfully.

To help you in those situations and to celebrate Female Entrepreneur Day,

which is on November 19th I've got a list of 10 business traits that we value

and love talking about in English and the good news is these are all traits that

you can learn and improve. Then at the end,

I've got one thing that you absolutely must do.

If you're going to talk about one of these traits in a job interview or

performance evaluation,

I'll tell you exactly what that is and give you the opportunity to practice.

Plus I want to hear from you which one of these traits describes you best.

Let's get right to it with 10 successful business traits in English,

what they mean,

some common synonyms that you can use instead and example sentences for how to

use them. Number one is driven.

Someone who is driven is motivated by hard work and success.

Nothing can stand in their way.

Here are a few alternative words or synonyms that you could use such as highly

motivated or success oriented and I've got an example for you.

I'm a highly driven person who loves to succeed.

When I have a goal or a responsibility,

I do everything I need to accomplish it and I don't let anything stand in my

way. Number two is to be resilient.

When someone is resilient,

they have the ability to adjust or adapt to change and challenges.

It doesn't mean that it's easy to adapt or that it happens quickly,

but you can do it. For example,

when something goes terribly wrong at work,

do you usually panic and freeze or do you calm yourself down,

focus and think about an alternative strategy or some way to adapt and still

achieve your goal?

One of my favorite ways to talk about someone who is resilient is to use the

ability to bounce back from something.

If you're able to bounce back from life's challenges or life's problems,

you are a resilient person. And here's an example sentence.

My daughter is never afraid of risks and no matter what happens in life,

she always recovers. She's super resilient.

The third successful business trait for today is confidence,

which is something we are all about at Speak Confident English.

And here's the good news about confidence is something you can learn.

This is what I do every day.

I work with students who feel like it's impossible to be confident in English,

to be fluent or to feel comfortable in the language.

And every day I help students learn to do all of that.

So if you're afraid that confidence is something you don't have,

it's absolutely something you can learn. But what is confidence?

Confidence is feeling self assured or being sure of yourself.

It doesn't mean that you always know the solution.

It doesn't mean that things are easy or that you don't feel nervous.

All of those things still happen.

But you believe that you will find a way.

You will be able to figure it out.

To be self-assured is a great synonym to use and here's an example.

When it comes to challenges at work or learning a new skill,

I have confidence that my professional abilities will help me figure it out.

Number four is decisive.

The ability to make decisions.

Someone who is decisive is also able to look at a lot of details or information

and make wise judgments and act on that judgment.

Successful professionals,

business owners and entrepreneurs absolutely need to be decisive.

For some of us, it's not always easy.

I'm not naturally a decisive person,

but I've definitely learned to do that.

Here are a couple of great synonyms and an example sentence is as a team leader,

it's absolutely necessary to be decisive and help the team move forward,

especially in times of difficulty.

Number five is to be a self starter. Now,

I can't speak for all English speakers around the world,

but I can say that most Americans really value someone who is a self starter.

This is someone who takes the initiative.

They don't wait for other people to do something. If they see a problem,

they figure out a solution to it. They do the work that is necessary.

A great alternative to a self starter is a go getter or someone who is

ambitious.

An example sentence is many small businesses and startups look for employees who

are self starters.

Our sixth successful business trait is to be a risk taker.

In other words,

to be someone who is willing to take a risk and do something is uncertain in

order to achieve your goal.

Being willing to take risks doesn't mean you do things without thinking about

them first.

You still do your research and you assess or evaluate the potential consequences

and do you know that sometimes you have to do things that are a little scary in

order to reach the success that you want. An example sentence would be,

many entrepreneurs and small business owners would describe themselves as risk

takers.

I would add that my Fluency School students are risk takers.

They don't think that they are, but they are because in Fluency School,

I definitely challenged them to do things that are scary and uncertain,

but they do them so that they achieve their goal,

which is confidence and fluency in English.

Number seven is to have a strong work ethic.

This is someone who believes in the value of hard work and they're not afraid of

it. This one might be a little similar to a self starter.

It's someone who is not afraid to do the hard work.

If they see a challenge or a problem,

they're going to find a solution and do the work that is necessary to accomplish

it. And here's my example sentence. Growing up,

I was definitely taught to have a strong work ethic as an adult.

I'm really grateful that my parents taught me that skill because it has helped

me have a successful career. Number eight is open-minded.

Someone who will consider the different perspectives or ideas of others.

They're not focused on just one possibility.

This is definitely a positive trait in a team leader or a business manager

because it means that you have someone who was going to listen to what you have

to offer and listen to your ideas.

So a great example sentence might be,

I appreciate that my boss is open minded and always willing to listen to my

ideas. Number nine is to be a visionary.

This is someone who has the big picture and can strategize how to reach that end

goal, even if it's really far into the future.

It's also someone who can identify potential future challenges and opportunities

for a company and a good example,

every company definitely needs someone who is the visionary and able to see

where the company's going. And finally,

number 10 to be passionate,

successful business professionals,

business owners and entrepreneurs definitely need to have passion for their

work. Because when you are in that kind of position,

it will require that you work very long hours,

that you do things you don't really want to do.

And sometimes you do all of that with very little reward.

So it's important to feel passionate about what you,

one of my favorite expressions for talking about something that you're

passionate about is to be in flow or to be in a flow state.

What this means is that you completely forget about the world,

about time,

about all the other distractions in life when you're working on something that

you're really passionate about or that you love.

Some people also talk about being in the zone.

My example sentences,

I'm definitely in flow when I'm teaching in the classroom with my students.

I never noticed the time and I feel 100% energized.

I'm curious, when do you feel in flow?

Are there parts of your job or aspects of your work that you're strongly

passionate about and you forget about everything else when you're doing it?

I'd love to know when you're in flow. Now, as I mentioned at the beginning,

these are fantastic traits to talk about in a job interview or a performance

evaluation,

but there's one extra thing you need to do if you are going to say that you're a

decisive person or that you have a strong work ethic,

you absolutely need a story to show how you are decisive or how you have a

strong work ethic in a job interview.

It's not enough to say that I'm a decisive person or I'm a self starter.

Your interviewer wants to have proof that that is a trait.

So definitely think about your past,

your history and your career and find a story that illustrates or shows how

you've been decisive or when have you taken initiative in your job.

That little tip is absolutely essential in a successful job interview in

English. In fact, in my confident job interviews course,

we talk a lot about how to do this well in English.

So if you've got a job interview coming up, definitely check that out.

Before we end today, I want to give you the opportunity to practice,

choose one of these traits that best describes you and use it in an example

sentence. Share it with me below so I can help you. Perfect that sentence.

With that, if you found this lesson helpful to you, I would love to know,

and you can tell me in three different ways. Number one,

give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to this channel so you

never miss one of my Confident English lessons. Number two,

you can share it with friends and colleagues on Facebook, and number three,

you can email it to someone else who you know could definitely use this list to

help them in a job interview or performance evaluation. With that,

thank you so much for joining me.

Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next time for your Confident English

lesson.