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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SuperAttainer:
Christopher Columbus
Explorer of the New World:
Christopher
Columbus
Main
Life Accomplishments:
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Europeans wanted to find sea routes to the East. Columbus wanted to find a new route to the Far East, to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands. If he could reach these lands, he would be able to bring back rich cargoes of silks and spices. Columbus knew that the world was round and realised that by sailing west, instead of east around the coast of Africa, as other explorers at the time were doing, he would still reach the East and the rich Spice Islands.
Basics:
Born: 1451, Genoa Italy
Died:
20-May-1506, Valladolid, Spain
Nationality: Italian
Religion: Roman Catholic
Fields: Exploration
Main Accomplishments: He re-discovered the New-World
Chronology
of Life Events:
The Early Years:
1451
Born in Genoa, the son of a wool merchant and weaver.
1476
Swims ashore when his ship is sunk in a battle off Portugal.
1476
Joins his brother Bartholomew, a cartographer, in Lisbon.
1477-1482
Makes merchant voyages as far as Iceland and Guinea.
1484
Conceives of "The Enterprise of the Indies." Fails to convince King John of Portugal to back the plan.
1485
Moves to Spain.
1492/1/2
Ferdinand & Isabela capture Granada, the last Moorish city in Spain.
The First
Voyage:
1492/8/3
Departs from Palos, Spain (near
Huelva)
1492/9/6
Departs Gomera (Canary Islands) after repair and
refit.
1492/10/12
New world sighted at 2:00 a.m. by Rodrigo de
Triana, somewhere in the
Bahamas.
1492/10/29
Arrives at
Cuba.
1492/11/22
Martín Alonso
Pinzón, captain of the Pinta, deserts the expedition off
Cuba.
1492/12/5
Columbus arrives at
Hispaniola.
1492/12/25
Flagship Santa Maria sinks off
Hispaniola. Columbus founds La Navidad.
1493/1/6
Pinzón rejoins
Columbus.
1493/1/16
Columbus departs Hispaniola for Spain in the
Niña.
1493/2/14
Niña and Pinta are separated again in a fierce
storm.
1493/2/15
Sights Santa Maria Island in the
Azores.
1493/3/4
Arrives at Lisbon,
Portugal.
1493/3/15
Niña and Pinta return separately to Palos,
Spain.
The Second
Voyage:
1493 Sept
The Grand Fleet of 17 ships departs
Cadiz.
1493/10/13
Departs Hierro (Canary Islands), sailing
WSW
1493/11/3
The island of Dominica sighted at dawn; Guadeloupe shortly
after.
1493/11/22
Arrives at
Hispaniola.
1493/11/28
Returns to
Navidad, finds fort destroyed.
1493/12/8
Founds new colony of La
Isabela.
1494/4/24
Sails from Isabela in search of
mainland.
1494/4/30
Arrives at
Cuba.
1494/5/5
Arrives at
Jamaica.
1494/5/14
Returns to
Cuba.
1494/6/13
Starts the return to La
Isabela.
1494/8/20
Reaches
Hispaniola.
1496/3/10
Departs from La Isabela for
Spain.
1496/6/8
Reaches the coast of
Portugal.
The Third
Voyage:
1498/5/30
Departs from
Sanlucar, Spain, with six
ships.
1498/6/19
Arrives at Gomera (Canary Islands); splits fleet into two
squadrons.
1498/7/4
Departs from the Cape Verde
Islands.
1498/7/31
Arrives at
Trinidad.
1498/8/13
Leaves the Gulf of
Paria, arrives at Margartia.
1498/8/19
Arrives at
Hispaniola.
1500 October
Columbus is arrested and sent home in
chains.
The Fourth
Voyage:
1502/5/11
Departs from Cadiz, Spain, with four
ships.
1502/6/29
Arrives at Santo Domingo,
Hispaniola.
1502/7/30
Arrives at the Mosquito Coast, modern
Nicaragua.
1503/1/9
Establishes garrison at Rio
Belen.
1503/4/6
Garrison attacked by Indians and
abandoned.
1503/4/16
Leaves Rio Belen for
home.
1503/6/25
Ships beached and abandoned at Jamaica, marooning
crew.
1504/6/29
Crew rescued from
Jamaica.
1504/11/7
Columbus returns to
Spain.
1506/5/20
Columbus dies at Valladolid.
Early
Life:
As
a boy, Christopher joined his father in the family business of wool
processing and selling. He may have worked as a clerk in a Genoese bookshop
as well. However, as did many other young men who grew up in a major
seaport, Columbus soon began a life of seafaring.
Although
it is not known how much formal training Columbus received as a child,
Italian craft guilds did offer a rudimentary level of reading and writing in
their schools. As a boy and a young man, Christopher joined his father in
the family business of wool processing and selling. He may have worked as a
clerk in a Genoese bookshop as well. At a time when it was generally
expected that sons follow their fathers in the family business, it was,
nevertheless, natural for them to turn to the seas for a career. Like so
many other young men growing up in a major sea port, Columbus began a life
of seafaring in his early teens.
In
1470, the family moved to Savona, where Christopher worked for his father in
wool processing. During this period he studied cartography with his brother
Bartolomeo. Christopher received almost no formal education; a voracious
reader, he was largely self-taught.
In
1474, Columbus joined a ship of the Spinola Financiers, who were Genoese
patrons of his father. He spent a year on a ship bound towards Khios (an
island in the Aegean Sea) and, after a brief visit home, spent a year in
Khios. It is believed that this is where he recruited some of his sailors.
In
1476, commercial expedition gave Columbus his first opportunity to sail into
the Atlantic Ocean. The fleet came under attack by French privateers off the
Cape of St. Vincent, Portugal. Columbus's ship was burned and he swam six
miles to shore.
By
1477, Columbus was living in Lisbon. Portugal had become a center for
maritime activity with ships sailing for England, Ireland, Iceland, Madeira,
the Azores, and Africa. Columbus's brother Bartolomeo worked as a mapmaker
in Lisbon. At times, the brothers worked together as draftsmen and book
collectors. He became a merchant sailor with the Portuguese fleet, and
sailed to Iceland via Ireland in 1477. He sailed to Madeira in 1478 to
purchase sugar, and along the coasts of West Africa between 1482 and 1485,
reaching the Portuguese trade post of Elmina Castle in the Gulf of Guinea
coast.
Wife
Background:
Columbus
married Felipa Perestrello Moniz, a daughter from a noble Portuguese family
with some Italian ancestry, in 1479. Felipa's father, Bartolomeu Perestrelo,
had partaken in finding the Madeira Islands and owned one of them (Porto
Santo Island), but died when Felipa was a baby, leaving his second wife a
wealthy widow. As part of his dowry, the mariner received all of
Perestello's charts of the winds and currents of the Portuguese possessions
of the Atlantic. Columbus and Felipa had a son, Diego Colón in 1480. Felipa
died in January of 1485. Columbus later found a lifelong partner in Spain,
an orphan named Beatriz Enriquez. She was living with a cousin in the
weaving industry of Córdoba. They never married, but Columbus left Beatriz
a rich woman and directed Diego to treat her as his own mother. The two had
a son, Ferdinand in 1488. Both boys served as pages to Prince Juan, son of
Ferdinand and Isabella, and each later contributed, with fabulous success,
to the rehabilitation of their father's reputation.
Father
Background:
He was born in 1418. He had 3 brothers,
Franceschino, Giacomo and Bertino. His father, Giovanni Colombo, had apprenticed his son,
Domenico, to the loom at age 11. Domenico, a third-generation master of his craft in Genoa, Italy, was also a shopkeeper. His secure, respectable position in the lower middle class did not, however, guarantee his having a firm work ethic. Despite, or because of, having fingers in several problems, he was a poor provider and a worse credit risk, yet a pleasant, well-liked fellow withal. The transactions of
Domenico, that he was carder and lanaiolo, proceeded with alternate fortunes: he had opened one tavern to
Savona, trading also with the wool and
traveling continuously. He was also in the commerce of wines and other kinds, let alone in the sale of asses and lands. When he was found in financial difficulty, he was helped economically from Christopher. Forsaking the loom, two of his sons-Bartholomew and Christopher-went to sea. If Domenico had, however, been prosperous, Christopher might have spent his entire life at a loom.
He lived in a house to the Plan of Sant'Andrea. In the Straight Alley, in the quarter of
Ponticello, neighbor to the Door of
Saint' Andrea, call also Soprana Door. In this house, Domenico died in 1496.
Mother
Background:
His mother was
Suzanna Fontanarossa, the daughter of a wool weaver.
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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