There are all kinds of people you don’t want working for your business. If I did a list post of those kinds of people it would be a mile long – a 100-part series.

But there’s one kind of person you do want: you want the kind of person who is internally driven.

This is a rare person indeed.

If you started your own business you would be described as an entrepreneur. That means that you are, 10 to 1, internally motivated. Perhaps money, fame or success is a driving force, too, but one way or another, the drive to take the actions that lead to those things is intrinsic.

Finding similar people is not easy.

I recently had the pleasure of working with a company where nearly everyone I spoke to was motivated internally (this was not a turnaround – the CEO was just experiencing an interesting situation and needed some advice).

As I spent a little time at this company, I had the opportunity to speak with a number of employees. Every single employee (who are called team members, not employees) I spoke with declared his or her intent to stay with this company for the long run. Employment at this company was “a career” and “not just some job.” It didn’t matter what their pay was or what their titles were. Each and every person I spoke with said that the kind of person who never fit in at this company was “a lazy person.” Every person here wanted to succeed because this was a culture of big moves, success and hard work. And they loved every minute of it. Multiple people said that this was the first place that they didn’t feel like they were going to work. They were finally doing what came naturally.

And as I tried to figure out what kind of company I was surveying, I realized that it was one where the employees were very carefully chosen. They were not just hired to do some job. They were brought in to be a part of a team where everyone was driven to succeed – and not for external reasons but for internal ones.

I encourage you to seek out those kinds of team members who are internally motivated to succeed and to do a great job. They’re hard to come by, but I assure you your company will benefit as a result.