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
+63 908 880 4178
leaders@chalre.com
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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.

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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