Levchin: Self-awareness and mental quickness are the top predictors of success
Max Levchin · 20VC: Max Levchin on What Makes A Truly Great CEO, Why Self-Awareness Is The Most Important Trait For Entrepreneurs & Why When There Is Doubt There Is No Doubt · Jul 14, 2017 · at 11:50
Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal and CEO of Affirm, discusses key traits he evaluates when identifying exceptional talent and future game-changing entrepreneurs.
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“So I think the trait that I look for, first and foremost, self-awareness, and I've always had the greatest trouble describing what that means, but I think it's almost self-descriptive. When you interact with people, That seemed just really present, really in the conversation, in the moment, able to process and react very, very quickly, basically playing mental ping pong with you as opposed to some much slower sports. I've drawn to those people because they will bring that awareness and that sort of quickness to their work and their teams and their conversations with other people within the company. So that I've always found to be extraordinarily valuable predictor of success.”
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