| Observations |
| Committed or Accountable | MVPs are always committed to derive and define technical excellence in their community area | | Passion for Customer (Users), Technology | MVPs are Technology Enthusiast. They always think from Users point of view on how the technology or solution could help | | Open for feedback, Listening | MVPs do seek feedback and also provide feedback in a respectful manner in appropriate forums | | Learn and Share Knowledge | MVPs follow a continuous self-learning approach to keep themselves up-to-date with what’s happening in his/her technical area |
| Do these points not sound like typical MS Core Values? Mostly I have seen people who are part of Microsoft (also known as MSFTE) live most of these values but in this case also it’s not much different. Though, MVPs are not directly associated with Microsoft, but I personally feel our MVPs are living these values. They take responsibility of driving Forums, User Groups, Local Events, Publishing Quality Blogs, Articles and Books etc. and manage all these together year after year without fail. They fight with Microsoft for product capabilities on behalf of end users. They listen to each and every feedback what is coming from end users through Forums, Blogs or in-person events. And most importantly they continuously update their knowledge and share what they learnt with others in community |
| Out of Box Thinking | MVPs often come up with new ideas, suggestions and thoughts which might sound unrealistic at first level but if you dig deeper, you can see the impact in a longer run. |
| Thinking out of box makes you exceptional. Working on a defined process is very simple but how many times one attempted to define a new process and work on it? That shows how much you are ready to take big challenges and how far can you think. I feel this is an essential skill of a leader. |
| Collaboration | MVPs do collaborate with different resources internally within Microsoft as well as outside Microsoft. MVPs are supposed to be counted as extremely collaborative |
| This is a very critical area. Collaboration is not simple due to issues like distance, language, attitude, culture etc. but as an MVP, its must. A person willing to become an MVP, should work towards this area |
| Time management | I met a few MVPs who are participating in multiple User Groups, Writing Research Papers, Answering Forums and lot more. With their existing professional commitments, maintaining all these are really exceptional and unless one know how to manage their time, I think it’s impossible |
| Everyone should learn how to work smart with multiple responsibilities and still be successful without impacting other commitments. Again must for current world to be successful |
| Easy going approach | This is another interesting capability what I see in most of our MVPs. They can easily gel with others, understand their issues, suggest possible solutions and end up with a positive experience | | Consistency | Consistency is critical for everyone’s success. We have seen most of veteran MVPs are very consistent in terms of their contribution and commitments towards community | | Good Communication (Writing and Speaking) | MVPs do influence adoption of technology. This can only happen if the person can express himself/herself properly in any forum irrespective of audience type | | Influencing | We are talking about influencers and for sure they influence the key decisions like adoption, deployment and supportability. For sure MVPs are great influencers |
| These are common success mantra apply to everyone. Earlier you learn, successful you are and more you follow, better you are. Some of these are either inter related or complementing other skills. Easy going approach is required in anyone who deals with different set of people day in day out. And there good communication and influencing capabilities also help. Consistency works with almost all the skills what we discussed till now and is required for success |
| Problem Solving | Few of our MVPs are Problem Solvers and they tend to go deeper to address the issue from the root |
| Good skill to make sure we understand the issue and the address from the root |
| Focused Approach | Few of our MVPs follow a focused approach i.e. one at a time behavior |
| It gives the possibilities of improving what we do. Can be a good skill to have |