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.
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Founding
Figure of Western Philosophy:
Aristotle
Main
Life Accomplishments:
Aristotle
is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. He
was the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy,
encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and
metaphysics. Aristotle's views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped
medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the
Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by modern physics. In
the biological sciences, some of his observations were only confirmed to
be accurate in the nineteenth century. His works contain the earliest
known formal study of logic, which were incorporated in the late
nineteenth century into modern formal logic. In metaphysics,
Aristotelianism had a profound influence on philosophical and theological
thinking in the Islamic and Jewish traditions in the Middle Ages, and it
continues to influence Christian theology, especially Eastern Orthodox
theology, and the scholastic tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. All
aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active
academic study today.
Basics:
Born:
March 7, 384 BC, Stagira, on the peninsula of Chalcidice.
Died: 322
BC Euboea
Nationality: Ancient Greece
Fields: Philosophy
Main Accomplishments: He was a famous ancient Greek
philosopher, founder of the peripatetic school and of formal logic as
science.
Chronology
of Life Events:
374?
Nicomachus,
Aristotle’s father, dies.
March
7, 384 BC
Aristotle
born
367-347
B.C.
He
studied under Plato
342-339
B.C.
Tutored
Alexander the Great at the Macedonian Court
335
BC
He
opened an school in the Athenian Lyceum
323
BC
During
the anti-Macedonian agitation after Alexander's death Aristotle fled.
Early
Life:
Aristotle
was born in Stageira, Chalcidice in 384 BC. His father, Nicomachus was the
personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Aristotle was trained and
educated as a member of the aristocracy. At about the age of eighteen, he
went to Athens to continue his education at Plato's Academy. Aristotle
remained at the academy for nearly twenty years, not leaving until after
Plato's death in 347 BC. He then traveled with Xenocrates to the court of
his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor. While in Asia, Aristotle
traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they
researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married
Hermias's adoptive daughter (or niece) Pythias. She bore him a daughter,
whom they named Pythias. Soon after Hermias' death, Aristotle was invited
by Philip of Macedon to become tutor to Alexander the Great.
After spending several years tutoring the young Alexander, Aristotle
returned to Athens. By 335 BC, he established his own school there, known
as the Lyceum. Aristotle conducted courses at the school for the next
twelve years. While in Athens, his wife Pythias died, and Aristotle became
involved with Herpyllis of Stageira, who bore him a son whom he named
after his father, Nicomachus. According to the Suda, he also had an
eromenos, Palaephatus of Abydus.[2]
It is during this period in Athens when Aristotle is believed to have
composed many of his works. Aristotle wrote many dialogues, only fragments
of which survived. The works that have survived are in treatise form and
were not, for the most part, intended for widespread publication, as they
are generally thought to be lecture aids for his students. His most
important treatises include Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics,
Politics, De Anima (On the Soul) and Poetics. These works, although
connected in many fundamental ways, vary significantly in both style and
substance.
Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but
made significant contributions to most of them. In physical science,
Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, economics, embryology, geography,
geology, meteorology, physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on
aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, psychology,
rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign customs,
literature and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual
encyclopedia of Greek knowledge. It has been suggested that Aristotle was
probably the last person to know everything there was to be known in his
own time.[3] Upon Alexander's death, anti-Macedonian sentiment in Athens
once again flared. Eurymedon the hierophant denounced Aristotle for not
holding the gods in honor. Aristotle fled the city to his mother's family
estate in Chalcis, explaining, "I will not allow the Athenians to sin
twice against philosophy,"[4] a reference to Athens's prior trial and
execution of Socrates. However, he died in Euboea of natural causes within
the year (in 322 BC). Aristotle left a will and named chief executor his
student Antipater, in which he asked to be buried next to his wife. It has
also been proposed that Aristotle's banishment and death resulted from the
possibility that he was involved with the death of Alexander.
Wife
Background:
Aristotle
married Pythias, the adopted daughter of Hermias who ruled the area. They
had one daughter. While in Assos, Aristotle became the leader of a group
of philosophers and scientists who observed and discussed the anatomy,
structure and classification of various plants, animals and insects. In
346 BC, a peace treaty was made between Macedonia and Athens.
Pythias
died 344-325 BC when she was in her mid-30s. Aristotle did not marry
again, but he had a lasting relationship with a woman from his home town
of Stagirus, named Herpyllis. Together they had a a son, Nicomachus.
Father
Background:
His
father, Nicomah, was a doctor at King Filip II's Court. Nicomah was also
his teacher when Aristotle was very young.
When
Aristotle was 10 years old, Nichomachus died. His death prevented
Aristotle from following in his father's footsteps as a physician. His
mother also died when he was young, and he was brought up by an uncle or
friend of the family, Proxenus.
Mother
Background:
Phaestis
mother of Aristotle, came from Chalcis in Euboea and her family owned
property there. Nicomachus was certainly living in Chalcidice when
Aristotle was born and he had probably been born in that region. Phaestis
was a descendant of one of the founders of Stagira, bringing a colony from
Chalcis, on the isle of Euboea. Her family owned property in Chalcis,
where Aristotle would go at the end of his life.
Nothing more is known about Phaestis. It is likely that she did not
outlive her husband Nicomachus by many years, she may even have passed
away before he did. Phaestis cannot have been very old when giving birth
to Aristotle.
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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