Author Eric Barker explains why conscientiousness is so connected to success.

Conscientiousness is the fundamental character trait most closely tied to self-control, and it tracks with nearly every type of success across your lifespan.

It makes you more money. Measured concurrently, emotionally stable and conscientious participants reported higher incomes and job satisfaction.

It gives you a better marriage. Our findings suggest that conscientiousness is the trait most broadly associated with marital satisfaction in long-wed couples.

It makes you healthier. Individuals who scored in the top 10% on conscientiousness were approximately 40% less likely to have metabolic deficiencies.

It helps you live longer. Conscientiousness, which was the best predictor of longevity when measured in childhood, also turned out to be the best personality predictor of long life when measured in adulthood.

It makes you a better worker. Conscientiousness was the trait that best predicted workplace success because it is strongly correlated to grit and curiosity.

If conscientiousness is such a powerful character trait, you should be on the lookout for it during your recruiting conversations and interviews.

How do you recognize it? Here is a good definition:

Conscientiousness is the trait that denotes being thorough, careful, or vigilant; it implies a desire to do a task well.

It is manifested in characteristic behaviors such as being efficient, organized, neat, and systematic, also including such elements as self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, self-organization, deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before acting), and need for achievement. 

Conscientious individuals are generally hard working and reliable.

Doesn’t that sound like the description of the perfect agent? And the perfect manager?