(FORTUNE Magazine) – James M. Citrin, 43, has made a career of finding extraordinary executives. A high-profile headhunter for over a decade, he has placed CEOs at companies ranging from Yahoo to Eastman Kodak. For a new book, The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, Citrin and Spencer Stuart colleague Richard A. Smith spent three years surveying 1.2 million professionals to discover what differentiated extraordinary people from merely successful ones. We caught up with Citrin to talk about career flares, Starbucks, and being the boss. --Noshua Watson

Q: So what's a "career flare"?

A: You have a blinding insight--you say, "Holy cow! That's what I'm meant to do!" Ten years ago I was a director of strategic planning at Reader's Digest, and in my performance review my boss said I was good at relationships. Three days later I read an article about Tom Neff and Gerry Roche and CEO searches. I said, That's what I want to be doing!

Q: You write that extraordinary types spend 80% of their time doing their job and 20% doing work that isn't required of them. Explain.

A: It's the most surprising finding in the book. The extraordinary executives got all their work done, then said, Well, nobody's asked me to do this analysis of customer profitability, but it will be interesting and helpful.

Q: Who's the most successful person out of the 1.2 million you surveyed?

A: I'd say Howard Schultz of Starbucks. Not only has he built a brand that is ubiquitous, but he and his team have helped shape society.

Q: Are there any differences between successful men and women?

A: Those women who are extraordinarily successful tend to have longer tenures with their employers than the men, and as a result they have even greater loyalty to their companies. Mentors are much more important for women than men.

Q: Why do so many successful people self-destruct?

A: I believe the higher people go, the harder it is to get truly unvarnished feedback. When you are the boss, people treat you differently. The best leaders find a way to get unvarnished feedback and assimilate that in a way that is constructive for the organization. It's not about maintaining their own power.

Q: You say the people who do best also help others. Isn't that counterintuitive?

A: Our research shows that 90% of the people defined by our criteria as extraordinary focus on the success of those around them as much or more than on their own success. Average employees to an overwhelming degree focus on their own success. There are highly visible exceptions to this rule, but if you make those around you successful, you'll be successful by definition. It might take a little longer.

Q: What if you're extraordinarily successful but it's time to move on?

A: Terry Semel left Warner Bros. He was on the sidelines for a year, and I recruited him to Yahoo. He was able to go from a career that had run its course to create a whole new phase at Yahoo.

Q: So the other trick is having the right headhunter.

A: Every one of the 260 placements I made over the past ten years was extraordinary.