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
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SuperAttainer:
Francis
Drake
British Explorer & Privateer:
Francis
Drake
Main
Life Accomplishments:
He
was an English privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the
Elizabethan era. Queen Elizabeth I awarded Drake knighthood in 1581. He
was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in
1588, subordinate only to Charles Howard and the Queen herself.
Basics:
Born: February
or March 1540, Tavistock, Devonshire, England
Died: 28-Jan-1596, Pacific Ocean, near Panama
Nationality: English
Religion: Protestant
Fields: Exploration
Main Accomplishments: He fought against the Spanish Armada.
Chronology
of Life Events:
1566
CE
Sir
Francis Drake visited an island off Roanoke, Va., with a ship full of
Turkish prisoners. Only half the prisoners were recorded as taken back to
England.
1573
CE
The
first European, Sir Francis Drake sees the Pacific (from Panama).
1573
CE
Sir
Francis Drake captured a huge shipment of Spanish silver as it was being
transported across the Isthmus of Panama.
13
Dec 1577 CE
Sir
Francis Drake of England set out with five ships on a nearly three-year
journey that would take him around the world. His mission was to find
Terra Australis and raid their Spanish colonies on the west coast of South
America. He returned with a 4,500% profit on his investment.
Sep
1578 CE
Francis
Drake passes through the Straights of Megellan only to find himself blown
significantly southward due to a tremendous storm in the Pacific. This
event proved that Tierra del Fuego was separated from any southern
continent and the passageway came to be known as the "Drake
Passage".
1578
CE
Sir
Francis Drake renamed his flagship, the Pelican, to the Golden Hind. He
ravaged the coasts of Chile and Peru on his way around the world.
1579
CE
British
explorer Sir Francis Drake lands on the coast of California.
26
Sep 1580 CE
Francis
Drake returned to Plymouth, England, at the end of his voyage to
circumvent the globe.
1580
CE
Sir
Francis Drake rounded the promontory of what later became Cape Town, South
Africa.
4
Apr 1581 CE
Frances
Drake completed the circumnavigation of the world.
1585
CE
Francis
Drake attacked the Spanish ports of Vigo and Santo Domingo. English
shipping in Spanish ports was then confiscated as a virtual declaration of
war by Spain.
1585
CE
Sir
Francis Drake sailed through the Virgin Islands to plunder Spanish ships.
1
Jan 1586 CE
Francis
Drake, who left England on a new voyage to America last September, made a
surprise attack on the heavily fortified city of Santo Domingo in
Hispaniola, forcing the governor to pay a large ransom.
1586
CE
Sir
Francis Drake lands at Roanoke in Virginia and hears tales of colonists
who had survived on soup made from sassafras later returning to England
with what may have been the first shipment
1587
CE
Pope
Sixtus V proclaimed a Catholic crusade for the invasion of England. Philip
II prepared an invasion fleet but was interrupted by Francis Drake, who
'singed the king's beard' by burning 10,000 tons of shipping in Cadiz
harbor.
8
Aug 1588 CE
The
Spanish Armada was destroyed. It was shattered around the coasts of the
English Isles by an English fleet under the command of Lord Howard of
Effingham with the help of Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, and a
violent storm.
1589
CE
Francis
Drake with 150 ships and 18,000 men failed in his attempt to capture
Lisbon.
1595
CE
Queen
Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Drake to capture treasure from a wrecked
Spanish galleon stored at La Forteleza. Drake failed and returned to
Panama.
28
Jan 1596 CE
English
navigator Sir Francis Drake died off the coast of Panama of a fever; he
was buried at sea.
Early
Life:
Francis
Drake was born in the parish of Crowndale, a mile south of Tavistock,
Devon, in February or March 1540. He was the eldest of the twelve sons of
Edmund Drake (1518–1585), a Protestant farmer who later became a
preacher, and his wife Mary Mylwaye. The elder Drake is sometimes confused
with his nephew John Drake (1573–1634), who was the son of Edmund's
older brother, Richard Drake. Francis Drake's maternal grandfather
was Richard Mylwaye. Francis Drake married 1: Mary Newman; married 2:
Elizabeth Sydenham.
Francis was reportedly named after his godfather Francis Russell, 2nd Earl
of Bedford, and throughout his cousins' lineages are direct connections to
royalty and famous personages, such as Sir Richard Grenville, Ivor Callely,
Amy Grenville and Geoffrey Chaucer. However, James Froud states, "He
told Camden that he was of mean extraction. He meant merely that he was
proud of his parents and made no idle pretensions to noble birth. His
father was a tenant of the Earl of Bedford, and must have stood well with
him, for Francis Russell, the heir of the earldom, was the boy's
godfather."
As with many of Drake's contemporaries, the exact date of his birth is
unknown and could be as early as 1535, the 1540 date being extrapolated
from two portraits: one a miniature painted by Nicholas Hilliard in 1581
when he was allegedly 42, the other painted in 1594 when he was alleged to
be 53.
During the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, the family was forced to flee to
Kent. Before he turned thirteen, Drake started his sea career when he
became an apprentice member of the crew of a bark trading between the
Thames and the cross-Channel ports. He became owner-master of the ship at
the age of twenty after the death of its previous captain, who bequeathed
it to him. At age twenty-three, Drake made his first voyage to the New
World, sailing, in company with his second cousin, Sir John Hawkins, on
one of a fleet of ships owned by his relatives, the Hawkins family of
Plymouth.
In 1569 he was again with the Hawkins fleet when it was trapped by the
Spaniards in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua. He escaped along with
Hawkins but the experience is said to have led him to his lifelong revenge
against the Spanish.
Wife
Background:
Drake
married Mary Newman of Saltash in 1569. (You can visit Mary Newman's
Cottage and gardens across the Tamar River in Saltash). They had no
children and she died twelve years later in 1581, leaving the newly
knighted Sir Francis Drake a widower. He later remarried in 1585. The
birthplace of Mary Newman, Drake's first wife, is a cottage in Culver
Street.
Father
Background:
Edmund
Drake was a Protestant and he may have been the victim of religious
persecution. For whatever reason (and some believe it was because he was
involved in petty crime), the Drake family moved to Kent. Here the family
lived in the hulk of an old ship. Edmund Drake worked as a preacher to
naval sailors.
Mother
Background:
Elizabeth
Mylwaye, born 1494-1522, was a daughter of Richard. Mylwaye.
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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