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Executive Search in Asia. How to Hire Leaders & Managers.Why are They Different? Chalre Associates funds ongoing research into assessing Leadership Talent

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 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

 

 

 Word From 

 Our Sponsor

 

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.    

 

Chalre Associates - Executive Search in Asia Pacific - Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam

 

 

  C o n t a c t  U s

 

   Telephone Chalre Associates - Executive Search in ASEAN - Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam +632 892 6703

       Telephone Chalre Associates - Executive Search in ASEAN - Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam +63 908 880 4178

            Email Chalre Associates - Executive Search in ASEAN - Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam leaders@chalre.com

  


 

Chalre Associates funds ongoing research into Leadership Assessment by studying the background of SuperAttainers

 SuperAttainer: Lee Kuan Yew

 

 

 

 

Founder of Singapore:

 

Lee Kuan Yew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Main Life Accomplishments:

 

He has remained one of the most influential politicians in Singapore. Under the administration of Singapore's second prime minister, Goh Chok Tong, he served as Senior Minister. He currently holds the specially created post of Minister Mentor under his son Lee Hsien Loong, who became the nation's third prime minister and second from the same family on August 12, 2004. He is also known informally as "Harry" to his close friends and family and thus his name is sometimes cited as Harry Lee Kuan Yew, although this first name is never used in official settings.
 

Basics:

 

Born: 16 September 1923 in 92 Kampong Java Road, Singapore


Nationality: Singaporean


Religion: 


Fields:  Military, Politics


Main Accomplishments:  The first prime minister of modern Singapore.

Chronology of Life Events:

 

Sep 16, 1923

Birth of Lee Kuan Yew

1949

He returned to Singapore to work as a lawyer in Laylcock and Ong
 

1951

Lee’s first experience with politics in Singapore
 

Nov 21, 1954

Lee, together with a group of fellow English-educated middle-class men formed the socialist People's Action Party
 

1955

Lee contested and comprehensively won the Tanjong Pagar seat
 

1961

Lee began to campaign for a merger with Malaysia to end British colonial rule.
 

Aug 7, 1965

Lee Kuan Yew signed a separation agreement which discussed Singapore's post-separation relations with Malaysia in order to continue co-operation in areas such as trade and mutual defence.
 

May 25, 1973

Lee made his first visit to Indonesia
 

1979

Lee officially launched the first Speak Mandarin Campaign.
 

1983

Lee sparked the 'Great Marriage Debate' when he encouraged Singapore men to choose women with high education as wives.
 

Nov 28, 1990

Lee and Mahathir reached a major agreement in Kuala Lumpur to build the Linggui dam on the Johor River.
 

Nov 1992

Lee stepped down as Prime Minister
 

Jun 2005
Lee subsequently stepped down as the Secretary-General of the PAP
Lee published a book, Keeping My Mandarin Alive
 

Jun 12, 2005
Lee stressed the need to have a continuous renewal of talent in the country's leadership, in an interview

 

Early Life:

 

As a child Lee was strongly influenced by British culture, due in part to his grandfather, Lee Hoon Leong, who had given his sons an English education. His grandfather gave him the name "Harry" in addition to his Chinese name (given by his father) Kuan Yew.


Lee was educated at Telok Kurau Primary School, Raffles Institution, and Raffles College. His university education was delayed by World War II and the 1942–45 Japanese occupation of Singapore. During the occupation, he operated a successful black market business selling a tapioca-based glue called Stikfas. Having taken Chinese and Japanese lessons since 1942, he was able to work as a transcriber of Allied wire reports for the Japanese, as well as being the English-language editor on the Japanese Hodobu (??? — an information or propaganda department) from 1943 to 1944.


After the war, he studied law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in the United Kingdom, of which he was subsequently made an honorary fellow, (graduating with Double Starred First Class honours), and briefly attended the London School of Economics. He returned to Singapore in 1949 to work as a lawyer in Laycock and Ong, the legal practice of John Laycock, a pioneer of multiracialism who, together with A.P. Rajah and C.C. Tan, had founded Singapore's first multiracial club open to Asians.
 

Wife Background:

 

She is also the wife of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore and a former pupil of Singapore's Methodist Girls' School and Cambridge University. In Lee's biography, he stated that he first met Kwa in 1944 at a party, and courted her from 1946. Kwa married Lee Kuan Yew on September 30, 1950, and they have two sons and one daughter. Her eldest son is Lee Hsien Loong and her second son is Lee Hsien Yang.
During Lee's years as Prime Minister and Senior Minister, Kwa was frequently seen with her husband, especially on diplomatic trips and meetings with other foreign ministers.
 

Father Background:

 

Lee Chin Koon (storekeeper) at Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, and was later put in charge of various depots in Johor Bahru, Stulang and Batu Pahat.

 

Mother Background:

 

Chua Jim Neo came from successful middle-class families and were educated in English schools. Jim Neo, to whom Lee attributes much of the family's success in overcoming the financial difficulties.

 

Go Back to Main Menu

 


 
 
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 in Asia Pacific - Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam,

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.   

 

Executive Search in Asia Pacific - Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam,

 

 

 

Executive Search & Management Consulting in emerging countries of Asia - Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore

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