I think of sturdiness as the capacity of a system to maintain consistent useful output and internal order over time. And I believe this personality trait is worth thinking about for a minute.

When you’re looking to build or launch a thing, you want to engage people who consistently produce useful outputs while keeping it together. I think of session musicians — musicians who show up and do a record/soundtrack with very little-to-no time to prepare and execute at a high level while being a great person to hang out with — as fine examples of sturdiness.

If I was building a team or helping a company jump into growth mode, I would test for sturdiness. I would look for people who talk about projects that had seemingly insurmountable odds. I would look for two things:

1. How well did the candidate manage their energy? I would inquire into their outputs and how much utility it generated for others.

2. How did the candidate manage failures encountered along the way? I wouldn’t be afraid to challenge the candidate if I felt they were hedging in their answer.

Sturdiness + conscientiousness + drive = strong hire!