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:
Fidel Castro
Founder
of Communist Cuba:
Fidel
Castro
Main
Life Accomplishments:
He
is a Cuban revolutionary leader who led his country from December 1959
until his resignation in February 2008.
Castro began his political life with nationalist critiques of Fulgencio
Batista, and of United States political and corporate influence in Cuba.
He gained an ardent, but limited, following and also drew the attention of
the authorities. He eventually led the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada
Barracks, after which he was captured, tried, incarcerated and later
released. He then traveled to Mexico to organize and train for the
invasion of Cuba that took place in December 1956.
Castro came to power as a result of the Cuban revolution that overthrew
the dictator Fulgencio Batista, and shortly thereafter became Prime
Minister of Cuba. In 1965 he became First Secretary of the Communist Party
of Cuba and led the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist
republic. At his behest, Cuba also evolved into a Soviet client-state
during the Cold War. In 1976 he became President of the Council of State
as well as of the Council of Ministers. He also held the supreme military
rank of Comandante en Jefe ("Commander in Chief") of the Cuban
armed forces.
Basics:
Born: August
13, 1926 (1926-08-13) (age 82), Birán, Holguín Province, Cuba
Nationality: Cuban
Religion: Atheist
Fields: Politics, Military
Main Accomplishments: Founder of Communist Cuba and one of the
longest serving leaders of any modern nation.
Chronology
of Life Events:
August
13, 1926
Castro
is born in Biran, southeastern Cuba; the third of seven children of
Spanish immigrant Angel Castro and Cuban Lina Ruz.
1931-1945
Studies
in Santiago de Cuba at La Salle and the Jesuit college of Dolores. Later
he studies at Havana's Jesuit College of Belen.
1945
Studies
law at Havana University.
1947
Joins
a failed coup attempt against Dominican Republic's dictator Rafael
Trujillo.
October
12, 1948
Marries
Mirta Diaz-Balart from a wealth and influential family. They spend their
honeymoon in the United States.
1949
His
first son, Fidelito, is born. Under death threat from rival politicians,
he flees to New York for a time.
1950
Graduates
with a doctorate in law.
1952
Fulgencio
Batista takes power in a coup, sparking protests from Castro, who goes
underground with his anti-government activities.
1953
Leads
a failed attack on Santiago de Cuba's Moncada military barracks -- 69 of
the 111 men who took part are killed and Castro is arrested. He is
sentenced to 15 years in jail.
1954
Files
for divorce from Mirta and custody battle ensues over Fidelito.
May
15, 1955
Gets
out of jail under amnesty and establishes and heads the July 26 Movement.
July
7, 1955
Flees
to Mexico where he meets Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che"
Guevara and Maria Laborde, who would give birth to son Jorge Angel.
March
3, 1956
Daughter
Alina Fernandez Revuelta is born. Mother is Naty Revuelta.
December
2, 1956
Lands
in southeastern Cuba with 81 fighters and launches a 25-month-long
military campaign in the Sierra Maestra mountains.
February
16, 1957
Meets
Celia Sanchez, his main lifetime partner and right hand person until her
demise in 1980.
January
1, 1959
Batista
flees the country. Castro makes victorious entry in Havana on January 8.
He is appointed prime minister in February.
March
10, 1959
Foils
a US assassination plot against him.
April
15-27, 1959
Meets
US Vice President Richard Nixon in the United States.
1960
Establishes
diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
1961
The
United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba. Castro meets Dalia
Soto del Valle, with whom he has five children.
April
17-19, 1961
Defeats
1,400 anti-Castro fighters in the US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion.
October
22-28, 1962
The
Cuban missile crisis.
April
1963
Castro
makes his first visit to the Soviet Union.
October
15, 1967
Castro
announces "Che" Guevara was killed in Bolivia.
1975
Sends
troops to help Angola independence fighters.
1979
Hosts
non-aligned movement summit and becomes its president until 1982
1980
Gives
green light to refugee exodus of 125,000 on boat lift from Mariel to US.
1985
Stops
smoking his cherished Cohiba cigars.
1988
Criticises
Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika in the Soviet Union.
1990
Cuba
begins "special period" following USSR's dismemberment.
1995
Visits
China for the first time.
1998
Welcomes
John Paul II in his historic visit to Cuba.
1999
Presides
over Latin American Summit in Havana and launches Cuban drive to get
Florida to give up Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez, who after a
seven-month tug of war is returned to his father in Cuba.
June
23, 2001
Passes
out during a public event in Havana.
March
2003
Orders
the arrest of 75 opposition leaders.
October
20, 2004
Falls
while giving a speech in Santa Clara, injuring his left knee and right
arm.
April
2005
Signs
an alliance with Venezela's President Hugo Chavez.
July
31, 2006
Announces
a temporary transfer of power to his brother Raul Castro after undergoing
what he called delicate intestinal surgery.
Early
Life:
Fidel
Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on a sugar plantation in Birán, near Mayarí,
in the modern-day province of Holguín – then a part of the now-defunct
Oriente province. He was the third child born to Ángel Castro y Argiz, a
Galician immigrant from the impoverished northwest of Spain who became
relatively prosperous through work in the sugar industry and successful
investing. His mother, Lina Ruz González, who was a household servant,
was also of Galician background. Angel Castro was married to another
woman, Maria Luisa Argota, until Fidel was 17, and thus Fidel as a child
had to deal both with his illegitimacy and the challenge of being raised
in various foster homes away from his father's house.
Castro has two brothers, Ramón and Raúl, and four sisters, Angelita,
Juanita, Enma, and Agustina, all of whom were born out of wedlock. He also
has two half siblings, Lidia and Pedro Emilio who were raised by Ángel
Castro's first wife.
Fidel was not baptized until he was 8, also very uncommon, bringing
embarrassment and ridicule from other children. Ángel Castro finally
dissolved his first marriage when Fidel was 15 and married Fidel’s
mother. Castro was formally recognized by his father when he was 17, when
his surname was legally changed to Castro from Ruz, his mother’s name.
Although accounts of his education differ, most sources agree that he was
an intellectually gifted student, more interested in sports than in
academics, and spent many years in private Catholic boarding schools,
finishing high school at El Colegio de Belén, a Jesuit school in Havana
in 1945. While at Belén, the 21-year-old Castro pitched on the school's
baseball team. There are persistent rumors that Castro was scouted for
various U.S. baseball teams, but there is no evidence that this ever
actually happened.
Wife
Background:
Mirta
Francisca de la Caridad Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez (born September 30,
1928) was Fidel Castro's first wife, daughter of Rafael José Díaz-Balart
and wife América Gutiérrez. She was a fellow student at the University
of Havana, studying Philosophy, when Fidel married her. She was the
daughter of a prominent Cuban politician and mayor of the town of Banes.
They married on October 11, 1948 and divorced seven years later (while
Castro was in exile) in 1955. They had one child, a son, Fidel Ángel
"Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart, born on September 1, 1949. After
the divorce, Castro was granted custody of their son and Mirta remarried
Dr. Emilio Núñez Blanco, the son of a former Cuban Ambassador to the UN,
Emilio Núñez Portuondo (now deceased). A story in the October 8, 2000
edition of the Miami Herald claimed that she was then living in Spain and
that occasional visits to Cuba had been arranged by Raúl Castro, her
former brother-in-law.
Díaz-Balart reportedly returned to Havana in 2002 to live with Fidelito
and his family.
Mirta Díaz-Balart is the aunt of current Republican and anti-Castro U.S.
Congressmen Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart and sister of the
painter Waldo Diaz-Balart and the late Rafael Diaz-Balart. She has two
daughters by her second husband, Mirta and América Silvia Núñez Díaz-Balart,
both residing in Spain with their families. She has numerous
grandchildren.
Father
Background:
Ángel
María Bautista Castro y Argiz was the father of Cuban leaders Fidel and
Raúl Castro.
He was the son of Manuel de Castro y Núñez (Lugo Province, Láncara, c.
1853 – Lugo Province, Láncara, June 12, 1903) and wife (m. Lugo
Province, Láncara, August 16, 1873) Antonia Argiz y Fernández (Lugo
Province, Láncara, 1857 – Lugo Province, Láncara, November 16, 1887).
Ángel Castro was born in Láncara, Galicia in a small fieldstone house
typical of the poor Galician campesinos of that time.[1] When he was
sixteen or seventeen, he was recruited into the Spanish military, and came
to Cuba during the second War of Independence. He was stationed in the
tract of land between Júcaro and Morón[2] Juanita Castro, Ángel's
daughter, has contradicted this claim to assert that their father was
merely an economic migrant to Cuba.
Mother
Background:
Lina
Ruz González, born in Las Catalinas on September 23, 1903 and daughter of
Francisco Ruz Vázquez and wife Dominga González Ramos, whom he later
married on April 26, 1943
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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