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:
Maria Montessori
Originator
of Montessori Education Method:
Maria
Montessori
Main
Life Accomplishments:
Maria
Montessori was an Italian physician, educator, philosopher, humanitarian
and devout Catholic; she is best known for her philosophy and the
Montessori method of education of children from birth to adolescence. Her
educational method is in use today in a number of public as well as
private schools throughout the world.
Basics:
Born:
August 31, 1870(1870-08-31) Chiaravalle (Ancona), Italy
Died: May 6, 1952 (aged 81) Noordwijk, Netherlands
Nationality: Italian
Religion: Catholic
Fields: Philosophy
Main Accomplishments: The Italian educator and physician
Maria Montessori was the first Italian woman to receive a medical degree.
She was the originator of the Montessori method of education for children.
Chronology
of Life Events:
1870
Maria
Montessori is born in Chiaravalle, Ancona, Italy.
1875
Maria
moves with her family to Rome (the actual date is in question depending on
what source you look at; some books state she moved when she was 3, 5 or
12)
1882
Maria
goes to a boys’ secondary school in order to study mathematics.
1886
Maria
graduates from high school and enrolls in a technical school to study
engineering.
1892
Maria
begins her studies in medicine.
Jul
10, 1896
Maria
receives her Doctorate of Medicine degree; she is the first woman to
graduate from the University of Rome’s School of Medicine.
Sep
1896
Maria
serves as a delegate for Italy at the International Congress for Women’s
Rights in Berlin, Germany; her proposal for equal pay for equal work for
women is adopted.
Maria
is appointed assistant doctor at the Psychiatric Clinic in the University
of Rome.
1899
Maria
is a lecturer at the women’s teacher-training college.
1912
The Montessori American Committee is formed by Anne George, Sam
McClure and Mr. & Mrs. Bell; they organize the first international
training course in Rome.
Maria’s book The Montessori Method is translated into English.
Renilde Stoppani Montessori dies in December.
1915
Maria
sets up a classroom at San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International
Exposition where thousands of people were able to observe her teaching
method during the four months of the exhibit; the Montessori class won the
only two gold medals for education.
1916
The
Montessori Educational Association (MEA) dissolves due to lack of support
from Maria and the Montessori movement in the U.S. dies down for some
time.
Maria gives her first training course in Barcelona, Spain, at the Seminari
Laboratori de Pedagogia; students from Spain, Portugal, United States and
Great Britain attended.
1919
Maria
lectures at a training course in England; her lectures now include methods
and materials for 6-11 year olds.
1920
The
Spanish government stops supporting the Montessori training institute due
to Maria’s refusal to comply with the government’s politics.
1922
Maria
is appointed a government inspector of schools in Italy.
1924
Maria
meets with Mussolini, and he agrees that the Italian government should
again support Montessori schools.
1927
The
Montessori Society of Argentina is founded after Maria’s lectures in
Buenos Aires, La Plata and Cordoba.
1929
The
Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) is founded in Berlin, Germany.
1939
Maria
and Mario fly to India to escape World War II (Mahatma Gandhi had visited
the Casa dei Bambini in Rome).
Jun
1940
Mario
is sent to a prison camp because he is Italian (enemy alien) and India is
under British rule. Maria is, however, given permission to travel
around India.
Aug
31, 1940
Mario
is returned to his mother as a 70th birthday gift from the
Indians. A palm leaf roof hut is built as Maria’s training center
in Madras.
1949
Maria
addressed the Eighth International Montessori Congress with hopes that
those in attendance (Catholics, Quakers, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists)
could all work together to bring peace throughout the world.
1951
Maria
Montessori is nominated a third time for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Maria
Montessori addresses a United Nations education conference in Florence,
Italy.
May
6, 1951
Maria
Montessori dies at the age of 81 in Noordwijk aan Zee, Holland.
Early
Life:
Maria
Montessori was born in Chiaravalle (Ancona), Italy to Alessandro
Montessori, and Renilde Stoppani. Montessori was the first woman to
graduate from the University of Rome La Sapienza Medical School. She was a
member of the University's Psychiatric Clinic and became intrigued with
trying to educate the "mentally retarded" and the
"uneducable" in Rome. In 1898, she gave a lecture at the
Educational Congress in Torino about the training of the disabled. The
Italian Minister of Education was in attendance, and was impressed by her
arguments sufficiently to appoint her the same year as director of the
Scuola Ortofrenica, an institution devoted to the care and education of
the mentally retarded. She accepted, in order to put her theories to
proof. Her first notable success was to have several of her 8 year old
students apply to take the State examinations for reading and writing. The
"defective" children not only passed, but had above-average
scores, an achievement described as "the first Montessori
miracle."[1]
Because of her success with these children, she was asked to start a
school for children in a housing project in Rome, which opened on January
6, 1907, and which she called "Casa dei Bambini" or Children's
House. Children's House was a child care center in an apartment building
in the poor neighborhood of Rome. She was focused on teaching the students
ways to develop their own skills at a pace they set, which was a principle
Montessori called "spontaneous self-development".[2] The success
of this school sparked the opening of many more, and a worldwide interest
in Montessori's methods of education.
After the 1907 establishment of Montessori's first school in Rome, by 1913
there was an intense interest in her method in North America, which later
waned. (Nancy McCormick Rambusch revived the method in America by
establishing the American Montessori Society in 1960). Montessori was
exiled by Mussolini mostly because she refused to compromise her
principles and make the children into soldiers. She moved to Spain and
lived there until 1936 when the Spanish Civil War broke out. She then
moved to the Netherlands until 1939.
In the year 1939, the Theosophical Society of India extended an invitation
asking Maria Montessori to visit India. She accepted the invitation and
reached India the very same year accompanied by her only son, Mario
Montessori Sr. This heralded the beginning of her special relationship
with India. She made Adyar, Chennai her home. However the war forced her
to extend her stay in India. With the help of her son, Mario, she
conducted sixteen batches of courses called the Indian Montessori Training
Courses. These courses laid a strong foundation for the Montessori
Movement in India. In 1949 when she left for The Netherlands she appointed
Albert Max Joosten as her personal representative, and assigned him the
responsibility of conducting the Indian Montessori Training Courses.
Joosten along with Swamy S R, another disciple of Dr. Maria Montessori,
continued the good work and ensured that the Montessori Movement in India
was on a sound footing.
During a teachers conference in India she was interned by the authorities
and lived there for the duration of the war. Montessori lived out the
remainder of her life in the Netherlands, which now hosts the headquarters
of the AMI, or Association Montessori Internationale. She died in
Noordwijk aan Zee. Her son Mario headed the AMI until his death in 1982.
Maria Montessori died in the Netherlands in 1952, after a lifetime devoted
to the study of child development. Her early work centered on women’s
rights and social reform and evolved to encompass a totally innovative
approach to education. Her success in Italy led to international
recognition, and for over 40 years she traveled all over the world,
lecturing, writing and establishing training programs. In later years,
‘Educate for Peace’ became a guiding principle, which underpinned her
work.
Father
Background:
Alessandro
Montessori who was "an old fashioned gentleman of conservative temper
and military habits." (Kramer, 1976, p. 22). He was a soldier in his
youth and a civil servant later in life.
Mother
Background:
Renilde
Stoppani, was unusually well-educated for a woman of the times. She was
described as a lady of piety and charm, and Maria and her mother had
profound love and understanding between them.
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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