When conducting research for his latest book, Creating Innovators, Tony Wagner interviewed hundreds of thought leaders in creativity, innovation, and talent management. One of them is Judy Gilbert, director of Talent at Google. Whether or not you have any interest in being employed by Google, you need to know which skills this pioneering company values most. Here’s what Gilbert has to say:

“Of course we look for smarts but intellectual curiosity is more important. The person needs to be good at what we are hiring them to do — writing code or finance — but we also expect everyone to be a leader — someone who will take control of the situation versus waiting to be led.

“People who are successful at Google also have a bias towards action — you see something broken and you fix it. You are smart enough to spot problems, but you don’t whine about them or wait for somebody else to fix them. You ask, ‘How can I make things better?’ And collaboration is so essential to everything we do — we prize the ability to recognize and learn from people around you, who have very different kinds of expertise.”

Wagner’s Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who will Change the World was published by Scribner (2012). His 2008 book, The Global Achievement Gap has been an international best seller and is being translated into Chinese. Tony has also recently collaborated with noted filmmaker Robert Compton to create a 60 minute documentary, “The Finland Phenomenon: Inside The World’s Most Surprising School System.” Tony earned an MAT and an Ed.D. at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.