Identifying
SuperAttainers
The
SuperAttainment Research Center is funding a multi-year study of high achieving individuals across a great variety of fields and geographies. The purpose is to determine key attributes indicating an propensity toward superior achievement that can be recognized by most people with experience managing other people.
The work is ongoing and is being expanded continuously.
The
SuperAttainment Research Center is an initiative to help people
in management positions identify high potential leaders and channel
them toward meaningful contributions to their organizations and to
society at large.
The
8 attributes of SuperAttainers listed below are considered some of
the
most common and easiest to identify when accompanied by other
aspects of career success.
8
Attributes of
SuperAttainers
1. Early Success
The Early Bird Gets the Worm…and Everything Else
SuperAttainers usually begin doing amazing things early in their life. In fields like music and sport, it has long been
understood that for a child to have a chance at greatness, he needs to begin around age 3 and then work at it for many years. In business and politics, unusual ability is also recognized early in a SuperAttainer’s career and is followed with many years of continued achievement. In the greatness game, it is the rabbit who wins the
race -- as long as he persists like the tortoise.
2. Contrarian
When in Rome, Don’t Do As the Romans
SuperAttainers generally think of themselves as different and apart from other people. They can often be described as rebellious and
disobedient by those who try to rule over them and are never willing crowd followers. Tremendous success seems to require doing things tremendously different.
Doing things a little better will yield results that are only a little better than others and this is not what SuperAttainers are interested in.
3. Conceited
The Pride Before The Rise
In order for someone to be thought of as great in the minds of others, he must first be thought of as great in his own mind. The tremendous achievements of SuperAttainers seem to be merely a realization in the outer world of what is already in their inner world. Predictably, it is uncommon for such people to be overly shy about describing their abundant abilities. Many SuperAttainers have come to recognize that being known as arrogant does not help their purpose and they do a good job of appearing modest. However, a bit of digging into their personality should uncover a deep feeling of self-significance.
4. Hard-Knocked
Nothing Succeeds Like Suffering
SuperAttainers have often experienced traumatic periods when their careers or even their lives were in great peril. It is during these times that they gain a deep seated feeling of personal vulnerability that can stay with them for the rest of their lives. The advantage to the future SuperAttainer is that they become consumed by the realization that they must accomplish all they can while they have the chance because it can all come crashing down at any time. It is a psychological condition that will drive them to greatness for
the rest of their lives.
5. Loner
One is Company, Two is a Crowd
SuperAttainers are often described by others as dreamers, outsiders, cold-hearted and similar labels often given to loners. They are comfortable spending long periods in the company of themselves to ponder, learn and envisage the future. Many develop a love of solitary activities such as book-reading early in their life. They are not usually enthusiastic participants in team activities except when they are
leading the group.
6. Mentored
& Motivated
Behind Every Great Man are His Parents
Parents often play
the key role in the cultivation and realization of SuperAttainers,
spending immense amounts of time and money to give their offspring
the skills, experiences and relationships required for immense
amounts of success. They tutor baby SuperAttainers from the crib,
send them to the best schools and put them in touch with the best
mentors. It has been shown that mothers, in particular, can play a
strong role if they are supremely confident in their son's innate
abilities and then take devoted and continuing action to develop
them.
7. Discontent
Patience is No Virtue
SuperAttainers have an abnormally intense need for continuous accomplishment. Success does not bring these people a sense of inner peace. There is always someone else to overtake or a higher target to aspire to. They are impatient, dissatisfied and edgy when not engaged in activities that lead to the fulfillment of their personal goals. They seem psychologically unstable in this regard compared with most people.
8. Promoted
Self-Flattery Gets You Everywhere
There have been many great people who have lived and died in the history of our species but nobody knows most of them because their achievements were inadequately documented. In order to be thought of as a great success by large numbers of people, someone needs to be a great success at publicizing the SuperAttainer. In most instances, it is the SuperAttainers
themselves who are great self-promoters. In other cases, another talented person takes on the critically important role.
TWO
TYPES OF SUPERATTAINERS
1. Aristocratic SuperAttainers
Pampered and pompous, these people excel despite having been given it all. They grow up with all the best things, attend the best schools and hobnob with the best minds. Because they are so deeply bonded to a powerful and privileged elite, they are often conservative and elitist. Real change seldom happens with these people in charge. On the plus side, they are less likely to lead themselves and their followers down paths of mutual destruction. Examples of Aristocratic SuperAttainers include: Winston Churchill, Peter the Great, Louis XIV and Frederick the Great.
2. Come-From-
Nothing
SuperAttainers
Rags to riches, these people pull themselves up to greatness through tremendous obstacles. Luck plays a role but most of their success is due to relentless force of character. Since they come from outside the establishment, they can be great agents of change. Unfortunately, they are prone to crash and burning when they inevitably overstretch themselves and their supporters. Examples of Come-From-Nothing SuperAttainers include: Joseph Stalin,
Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Mao Zedong.
Rules
for Managers
Rules
for Self-Help
Rules
for Parents
Men
Vs. Women
The
SuperAttainment Research Center is operated as a CSR
(Corporate Social Responsibility) activity of Chalre
Associates Executive Search to help business people identify and
develop future leaders for their organizations and society at
large.
Chalre
Associates is a regional provider of Executive Search services
in the emerging countries of the Asia Pacific region.
Multinational companies use them to bridge the gap between the local
environment and their world-class requirements in countries like
Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
 +632 892 6703
 +63 908 880 4178
 leaders@chalre.com
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SuperAttainer:
Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor
of the Telephone:
Alexander
Graham Bell
Main Life Accomplishments:
Alexander Graham Bell was a scientist, inventor, and innovator. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, he emigrated to Canada in 1870 and then to the United States in 1871, becoming a US citizen in
1882.
Bell is widely acclaimed for inventing and developing the telephone in 1876, building on the pioneering efforts of Elisha Gray, Antonio Meucci, and Philipp Reis. In addition to Bell's work in telecommunications, he was responsible for important advances in aviation and hydrofoil technology.
Basics:
Born:
March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland
Died:
August 2, 1922 (aged 75) in Beinn Bhreagh, located on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island near the village of Baddeck.
Nationality:
Scottish
Religion:
Unitarian Agnostic
Fields:
Telecommunication
Main
Accomplishment: Invention of telephone and telegraph
Chronology of Life:
Mar 3 1847
Birth of Alexander Graham Bell
1860
He graduated in at the Royal High School
1863
He secured a position as a pupil-teacher of elocution and music, in Weston House Academy
1867-1868
He served as an instructor at Somerset College
1870
He and his parents immigrated to Canada, where they settled at Brantford, Ontario
1871
He accompanied his father to Montreal, Quebec, Canada
1875
Bell visited the famous scientist Joseph Henry who was then director of the Smithsonian Institution and asked Henry's advice on an electrical multi-reed apparatus which Bell hoped would transmit the human voice by telegraph.
Jul 11 1877
Bell married Mabel Hubbard
1880
Bell received the Volta Prize which he used to fund the Volta Laboratory
1882
He became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
1883
Bell and Gardiner Hubbard established the publication Science
1886
Bell started buying land on Cape Breton Island
1888
Bell was one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society and became its second president
1891
Bell began experiments to develop motor-powered heavier-than-air aircraft.
1898
He began experiments with tetrahedral kites, and he became the president of the National Geographic Society and regent of the Smithsonian Institution
1907
Bell founded the Aerial Experiment Association
1908
He began development of the hydrodrome (hydrofoil)
Jan 25 1915
He sent the first transcontinental telephone call, at 15 Day Street in New York City, which was received by Thomas Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco
Aug 2 1922
Bell died of Pernicious anemia
Early
Years:
Alexander Bell was born in Edinburgh on March 3, 1847. He was the middle of three children, all boys. Both brothers died of tuberculosis. His father was Professor Alexander Melville Bell, and his mother was Eliza Grace Symonds Bell. At age eleven, he adopted the middle name 'Graham' out of admiration for Alexander Graham, a family friend. Many called Bell "the father of the deaf". However, Bell believed in eugenics as well as audism. With both his mother and wife deaf, he hoped to eliminate hereditary
deafness.
His family was associated with the teaching of elocution: his grandfather, Alexander Bell, in London, his uncle in Dublin, and his father, in Edinburgh, were all elocutionists. His father published a variety of works on the subject, several of which are still well known, especially his treatise on Visible Speech, which appeared in Edinburgh in 1868. In this treatise, he explains his methods of how to instruct deaf mutes (as they were then known) to articulate words and read other people's lip movements to decipher
meaning.
Bell was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Scotland, from which he graduated at age 13. At age 16, he secured a position as a pupil-teacher of elocution and music, in Weston House Academy, at Elgin, Moray, Scotland. The following year, he attended the University of Edinburgh, but he graduated from the University College of
London.
It is while he was in Scotland that he is thought to have first turned his attention to the science of acoustics, with a view to ameliorate the deafness of his
mother.
From 1867 to 1868, he served as an instructor at Somerset College, Bath, Somerset,
England.
In 1870, at age 23, he and his parents emigrated to Canada, where they settled at Brantford,
Ontario.
In Canada, Alexander Bell continued an interest in the study of the human voice and ear (his father was an authority on speech disorders), and he also explored a method of communication with electricity. He designed a piano which, by means of electricity, could transmit its music at a distance. In 1871, he accompanied his father to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where his father was offered a position to teach his System of Visible Speech. Subsequently, his father was invited to introduce the Visible Speech System into a large school for mutes at Boston, Massachusetts, United States, but he declined the post, in favor of his son. Thus, teaching his father's system, Alexander Bell became professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at the Boston University School of
Oratory.
Bell speaking into prototype model of the
telephone
At Boston University, he continued his research in the same field and endeavored to find a way to transmit musical notes and articulate
speech.
In early 1875, Bell visited the famous scientist Joseph Henry who was then director of the Smithsonian Institution and asked Henry's advice on an electrical multi-reed apparatus which Bell hoped would transmit the human voice by telegraph. Henry replied that Bell had "the germ of a great invention". When Bell said that he did not have the necessary knowledge, Henry replied "Get it!" That greatly encouraged Bell to keep
trying.
On July 11, 1877, a few days after the Bell Telephone Company began, Bell married Mabel Hubbard, daughter of Boston lawyer Gardiner Hubbard who helped finance Bell's work and organize the new telephone company. Mabel was one of Bell's deaf pupils. They had four children: Elsie May Bell (1878-1964), Marian Hubbard Bell (Daisy) (1880-1962), and two sons who died in
infancy.
In 1880, Bell received the Volta Prize which he used to fund the Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C. In 1882, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1883, Bell and Gardiner Hubbard established the publication Science. In 1886, Bell started buying land on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, which he left in the care of a friend, writer David
Narbaitz.
In 1888, Bell was one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society and became its second president (1898-1903). He was the recipient of many honors. The French government conferred on him the decoration of the Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honor); the Académie française bestowed on him the Volta Prize of 50,000 francs; the Royal Society of Arts in London awarded him the Albert Medal in 1902; and the University of Würzburg, Bavaria, granted him a Ph.D. He was awarded the AIEE's Edison Medal in 1914 for "For meritorious achievement in the invention of the
telephone."
In 1891, Bell began experiments to develop motor-powered heavier-than-air aircraft. In 1898, he began experiments with tetrahedral kites, and he became the president of the National Geographic Society and regent of the Smithsonian Institution (1898-1922). In 1907, Bell founded the Aerial Experiment Association, and in 1908, he began development of the hydrodrome
(hydrofoil).
In 25 January 1915, he sent the first transcontinental telephone call, at 15 Day Street in New York City, which was received by Thomas Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco.
Bell died of Pernicious anemiaon August 2, 1922, age 75, at his private estate, Beinn Bhreagh, located on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island near the village of Baddeck. He was buried atop Beinn Bhreagh mountain overlooking Bras d'Or Lake. He was survived by his wife and two of their four children.
Spouse
Background:
Mabel Hubbard daughter of Boston lawyer Gardiner Hubbard who helped finance Bell's work and organize the new telephone company. Mabel was one of Bell's deaf pupils. They had four children: Elsie May Bell (1878-1964), Marian Hubbard Bell (Daisy) (1880-1962), and two sons who died in infancy.
Father
Background:
He studied under and became the principal assistant of his father, Alexander Bell, an authority on phonetics and defective speech. From 1843 to 1865 he lectured on elocution at the University of Edinburgh, and from 1865 to 1870 at the University of London. In 1868, and again in 1870 and 1871, he lectured in the Lowell Institute course in
Boston.
In 1870 he became a lecturer on philology at Queen's College, Kingston, Ontario; and in 1881 he removed to Washington, D.C., where he devoted himself to the education of deaf mutes by the "Visible Speech" method of orthoepy, in which the alphabetical characters of his own invention were graphic diagrams of positions and motions of the organs of speech. Some have speculated that Alexander Melville Bell was the model for Professor Higgins, the elocutionist who taught Eliza in George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion", which subsequently was used as the basis for the musical and later film: "My Fair Lady". Evidence supporting this includes the fact Eliza is not a common name, and Eliza Grace Bell was Alexander Melville Bell's wife. Alexander Melville Bell and Eliza were the parents of the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell.]
Mother
Background:
Eliza Grace Symonds, a painter of miniatures, was nearly ten years Melville's senior. Nevertheless, her sweet temper and refined intellect were more than enough to win his lifelong adoration and devotion. Despite being held captive in a world of virtual silence, Eliza Grace Bell developed into a talented pianist whose tenacity and determination to "hear" would especially entrance her second of three sons, Alexander Graham Bell.
SuperAttainer
ANALYSIS SECTION:
1. Early Success
When did the SuperAttainer first display ability
that was greatly above average and what were his accomplishments?
REFERENCES:
1.
2. Contrarian
What actions did the SuperAttainer take that demonstrated a mindset that was very different from those around him?
REFERENCES:
1.
3. Conceited
What are the actions and documented statements that exhibit an elevated sense of self importance of the
SuperAttainer?
REFERENCES:
1.
4. Hard-Knocked
During what events did the SuperAttainer experience personal misery and severe anxiety?
REFERENCES:
1.
5. Loner
Is there evidence of the SuperAttainer being comfortable spending time apart from others?
REFERENCES:
1.
6. Mentored & Motivated
Who was vital to developing the SuperAttainer and guiding his career and what significant actions were taken?
REFERENCES:
1.
7. Discontent
What evidence is there that the SuperAttainer was unsatisfied with even great personal accomplishment?
REFERENCES:
1.
8. Promoted
What actions or events were responsible for
publicizing the tremendous achievements and abilities of the SuperAttainer?
REFERENCES:
1.
Overall
Score:
x
out of 8 = xx%
PASS
SuperAttainer
Type:
Describe the factors in the SuperAttainer’s background to indicate
whether he is a Come-From-Nothing or Aristocratic type..
Conclusion:
Executive Search
& Management Consulting:
Chalre
Associates provides its Executive Search & Management
Consulting services throughout the emerging countries of the Asia Pacific
region with specific focus on Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam
and Singapore.
Regional
Managers use us to help bridge the gap between local environments and
the world-class requirements of multinational corporations.
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