Executive Coaching
by Caroline M. Spira, MPA, CEC
Ever wanted to be a cut above the rest? That amazing success story? Most of us are looking for more than just the mundane. That’s why putting personal emphasis on experiencing the world can make an immense difference in what one achieves.
Malcolm Gladwell’s recent book “Outliers: The Story of Success” (Little, Brown & Company, New York, 2008) spells out some of the factors that have propelled some people towards becoming so much more successful than others – we’re talking about the Bill Gates, the Beatles and Mozarts of the world.
One of Gladwell’s early premises is that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to reach outlier status of success. This takes the old axiom of “practice makes perfect” to an entirely new level! Innate abilities definitely matter, but without practice skills and expertise cannot be fully realized.
What Gladwell didn’t do is venture into the other side of the story; he didn’t offer lessons to be learned from these accounts. As a mid or late career reader - a mere mortal by comparison to some of the great successes of our times - is it too late to become an outlier?
Nike’s slogan “just do it” frames the answer well. Getting exposure is truly about getting out into the world: doing, experiencing and experimenting. Reaching success, especially outlier success, can only be achieved by working in the learning lab that is the outside world.
If practice and exposure are the foundation of reaching outlier success, then isn’t this within most people’s reach? Yes and no. Opportunity is the differentiating factor. Gladwell skillfully demonstrates through specific outliers examples, that some opportunities were, for lack of a better word, unique. Not lucky. Unique. Those who found (or created) a unique opportunity to practice and gain exposure - in the right place, at the right time – were well positioned to become outliers.
Aspiring to become an outlier then has less to do with 10,000 hours than with connecting and being connected to unique opportunities. In turn, it is also critical to recognize these as outlier opportunities. However, being connected isn’t about the old school concept of “it’s who you know”. Networking is about the web of connections, and it can be layers deep.
You want to get practice and gain exposure that is not immediately within your realm of knowledge? Ask yourself: “Who do I know who would know someone who knows?” Then ask that person: “Who they know”. Then ask that other person the same question. Eventually, the web of networking – this connecting and being connected – will lead to decidedly unique opportunities.
Now, how does one distinguish between a unique opportunity and an outlier opportunity? Quite frankly, at this point, does it matter? Have you gained time and space to practice a craft towards mastery? Did the process provide the gift of exposure, experience and experimentation? Will you not have already gained a high level of success just by reaching this point?