I like this line from Einstein:

“We should take care not to make the intellect our God; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.” –Albert Einstein

Take notice of what’s not mentioned:

Not mentioned: coding skills, years of experience, business degrees, etc. These things matter, but they won’t make you exceptional.

emotionally intelligent employees recognize when things are broken and fix them.

Whether it’s a sticky desk drawer or an inefficient, wasteful process affecting the cash flow of the entire department, exceptional employees don’t walk past problems. “Oh, it’s been that way forever,” simply isn’t in their vocabulary. They see problems as issues to be fixed immediately; it’s that simple.