Inform Yourself

What He Didn’t Find
Before we talk about what my good friend Mr. Jay Niblick did find in the Genius Project, let’s look at what he did not find because it’s actually quite important as well.

After crunching all of that data, and conducting all of those interviews, what he did not find was a single attribute, or natural talent, that showed up as being more responsible for success than any other, at least not on a universal scale. It turns out that being better at seeing the big-picture (the natural talent known as Conceptual Thinking) is not more likely to make everyone successful than being better at seeing the small picture (the natural talent for Attention to Detail). Neither does being better at understanding others (Empathy) have any greater impact on success across the board than does being great at doing what you are told to do (Following Directions).

Sure, in some roles a specific set of attributes may be more critical to success than others. We see this all the time in the job benchmarking work we do with our corporate clients. For example, possessing the natural talents for understanding and persuading others is crucial in most sales roles, but when you look at non-sales roles those talents may have little impact on success. Yes, some natural talents may indeed be vital in certain roles, perhaps even lots of roles - but not all roles.

While finding out which talents play an important part in any single role is beneficial, that’s not what the Genius Project was designed to do. The Genius Project wasn’t meant to understand what talents might make someone successful in any single role. The question he wanted to answer was, “could he find natural talents that are a common denominator among all successful people, in all roles, industries, markets, levels or locations?” In order to answer this question he was looking for natural talents that showed a high correlation with success in all the roles and all the successful people we studied. And guess what…he didn’t find any.

That’s right. He failed to find any single natural talent that was the key differentiator between success and failure in all cases. This is great news, however, because if this was the case, and he did find talents that must be present in order to succeed, and you happened to not possess such talents, you would pretty much be out of luck. If he had found certain talents as mandatory for all success then only people with those certain talents would be able to achieve the 5th level of performance and become geniuses at what they do. But thankfully that’s not what he found.

What He Did Find
When I say that he didn’t find any natural talents, however, that doesn’t mean he didn’t find anything at all that correlated with the most successful people, just no natural talents. What he did find in the Genius Project were two acquired talents, and these two acquired talents were present in all of the successful people, and quite absent in those who suffered from The Problem, individuals who struggle with feelings of frustration, lack of fulfillment and dissatisfaction with their personal performance and success.

These two acquired talents are called self-awareness and authenticity. We’ll get into the differences between natural and acquired talents in my next article, but suffice it to say that natural talents come from the way you think and make decisions and acquired talents are the knowledge, experience and skill that you develop throughout your life. If natural talents are engrained in you early on in life, acquired talents are added later.

Acquired talents are just that – acquired. They are those things that you do very well because you learned to do them very well. You weren’t born with these talents. You acquired them through gaining knowledge and experience. Unlike the natural talents we studied, the two acquired talents we found to be so common among the most successful people can be developed through conscious effort. These talents can be learned, and in so doing, you can become much more successful.

As I said, all of this is great news because it simply means that regardless of the natural talents you do possess you can take whatever those fixed talents are and become more successful with them. This means that the playing field is level. Genius performance isn’t reserved for just those with IQ’s above 140. It isn’t just for those who were lucky enough to be born with certain talents. Everyone possesses his or her own unique set of talents, so anyone can become a genius at something. It just requires that you develop the acquired talents we discovered in his study, and I’ll show you how to do just that in my future articles.

Let’s look at those two acquired talents now, and don’t worry if the following brief definition seems a little shy because you will become a whole lot more familiar with these two acquired talents as you progress through this and my future posts.

Acquired talent #1. Self-Awareness
Self-Awareness looks at how aware people are of their own natural talents and non-talents. For example, does John know he has a great natural talent for strategic thinking that makes him a genius for seeing the big-picture and making accurate long range plans? How aware is Mary that her greatest natural talent is for empathizing and understanding others? Self-awareness also looks at how well a person understands their non-talents, so while John knows he has a natural talent for strategic thinking, is he also aware of his lack of natural talent for paying attention to details, or being empathetic.

Being self-aware is being aware of your own true potential and this is a beautiful thing. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is described as having, “something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.” When a person has high levels of self-awareness, they too seem to hold a heightened sensitivity to all the promise they contain. They know very well what they are and are not good at, and what potential lies within them. When a person has low self-awareness, on the other hand, they do not have a clear sense of their natural abilities. They do not possess a significant level of sensitivity to their own true potential or promise.

If self-awareness is knowledge and understanding for your natural talents and promise, than in order to realize that promise you must possess the second acquired talent we discovered, which deals with the way you apply those talents. We call this second acquired talent Authenticity.

Acquired talent #2. Authenticity
Authenticity, at its simplest level, is “being true to you.” Knowing your strengths and weaknesses (self-awareness) is only half the picture. Properly applying that knowledge to your life is the other half. Setting goals that capitalize on your natural talents is being authentic. Finding a job that depends primarily on your natural talents is being authentic. Working from your strengths is being authentic.

The opposite of being authentic is being inauthentic. When you are aware of your natural talents and non-talents, but fail to incorporate this knowledge into what you do and how you attempt to achieve success, you are being inauthentic. When you allow yourself to fill a role that requires you to excel in your non-talents, you are being inauthentic.

So, of all the people he studied and all the various aspects of those people we looked at, the only two things that showed up as being really different between the most successful and the rest were their level of understanding for the natural talents and their ability to act on this awareness, to incorporate it into what they do and how they do it. The message in this study then becomes, the more completely you know your own natural talents and non-talents (i.e., are self-aware), and the more honest you are about this awareness, and the more you use it to determine what you do and how you do it (i.e., are authentic), the greater your satisfaction and performance will be.

Figure 1 below demonstrates the simplicity of this concept.

Level of Self-Awareness + Level of Authenticity = Level of Performance

Philosopher G.E. Moore puts it as simply as anyone could. He said, “Everything is what is it, and not another thing.” In other words, we are what we are, and not what we are not. We are our natural talents and our non-talents, and the more aware of these we are, and the truer we are to this fact, the better we perform. Trying to be something we are not is fruitless. If your natural talent is not for strategic thinking than the more your success depends on this ability, the more you are likely to suffer from The Problem.

~ Only when we are what we are, and our roles and objectives are true to that - only then
can we reach the 5th level of performance ~

My good friend Jay Niblick, founder of Innermetrix International, recently completed a study called The Genius Project. His study became the basis for his latest book, What’s Your Genius?

The Genius Project grew out of a desire to better understand two things:
1. What was the cause of the problem he was seeing with many of his client where they were frustrated and underperforming.
2. What were the real implications of it for those effected by what he call “The Problem”

The Genius Project spanned seven years and involved hundreds of thousands of individuals across twenty-three countries. Each individual was given a scientifically validated instrument to measure their ability in a wide variety of attributes relevant to individual performance. These attributes were naturally occurring talents that people possessed based on how they think and make decisions. The science behind this instrument had been rigorously validated and proven in business use for more than fifty years. The study itself was designed to compare the level of these natural talents in the most successful people against the levels in non-successful people. Our hope was to see if we could find out what differences, if any, could be found that might answer our questions.

One of the reasons he chose the Attribute Index, an assessment based on the science of axiology, for this study was because it measures natural talents for thinking and making decisions. As such, these natural talents are pretty much hard-wired, which means they are permanently set or fixed. In other words, they are the result of the way the neural networks in our brains operate, and as such they do not change much over the course of our lives. As a result he was very interested in finding out if having any of these attributes (Talents) was significantly linked to achieving greater levels of performance. It is because of their permanent nature that he refers to them as natural talents (as opposed to learned or acquired talents which I’ll cover in a my next post). He also chose these attributes because his company had lots of experience with them, which is important when you are trying to understand what these data are or are not telling you. And finally, he chose to work with these attributes because we already had over 75 PhDs and 900 certified professional consultants and coaches around the world with the experience and understanding required to accurately administer and interpret the results as well – which was vital if he was going to be able to gather good data.

All good research follows the basic principles of the scientific method. Those steps are:
1. Ask a Question
2. Do Background Research
3. Construct a Hypothesis
4. Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
5. Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
6. Communicate Your Results

1. The question he asked was, “why do some people seem to succeed frequently and with much less effort while others, who put in similar amounts of effort, have similar abilities and intelligence and exist in the very same environment, fail to succeed to the same degree.”

2. The initial background research he conducted was that we began talking with as many people as we could about this question. He interviewed people who were and were not satisfied with their level of success. He spoke with industrial and organizational psychologists, thought leaders, educators, and experts in personal development. In the consulting work he did, he was already using the Attribute Index to actually measure individual thinking and decision-making styles so he started monitoring the results of those profiles to see if any trends popped out

3. The hypothesis he developed was, “based on observation and anecdotal evidence, the more self-aware someone is of their natural talents, and the more they incorporate this knowledge into the work they do the more successful they are.” In other words, the truer someone was to their natural talents - the more successful they were

4. The experiment he did to prove or disprove this hypothesis became the heart of the Genius Project itself wherein he profiled over 300,000 people around the world and statistically compared their scores with their level of performance to see what correlations would show up. He was interested in knowing if there were any single talents, or sets of talents, that only the most successful people possessed in high amounts.

5. Hisr analysis of all of this data (over 24,000,000 bits of it) revealed some significant
findings that I will reveal in my future posts..

What’s a Genius?
To be able to statistically compare the differences between the most and least successful
people, we needed to separate them into categories of performance. We started with a
fairly universal set of four levels of performance:
• 1st Level – below average
• 2nd Level – average
• 3rd Level – above average
• 4th Level – excellent
•
Very early on, however, as he started interviewing people and looking at the best performers, he began to see the need for perhaps yet another level of performance. Those who were describing the absolute best performers they knew were having trouble with the four levels of performance we were using. The interviewees were telling him that these people were better than excellent. You’ve no doubt seen this yourself. Think of someone who is so damn good at what they do that they are better than “excellent.” The word falls short of conveying just how good these people really are, and you want to give them aneven stronger description.

“Genius is the ability to put into effect what is in your mind”
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Time and time again, as he interviewed people, the most common word they used to describe this level of performance was “genius”. They would say, “John is so great at seeing the big picture, he is a genius” or, “Mary is an absolute genius when it comes to understanding the client’s problem.” Because we heard this talk of “better than excellent” so much, we decided to add another level of performance on top of excellent.

This became the 5th Level of performance and because we heard the word genius so many times, that became the nickname for this new Level of performance.

The revised rankings then became:
• 1st Level – Below average
• 2nd Level – Average
• 3rd Level – Above average
• 4th Level – Excellent
• 5th Level - Genius

Finally, since he was searching for what explained some people’s ability to achieve the 5th level of performance, and become a Genius for what they do, it only made sense to call the whole thing the Genius Project.

When he says Genius, by the way, we aren’t referring to a person’s IQ. Our use of the term genius has nothing to do directly with how intelligent a person is and everything to do with how well they perform. Our use of genius is descriptive of a person’s ability to perform, not their ability to acquire facts or information (the more classical definition of genius).

His definition of a Genius is: a natural and joyful ability for delivering the highest levels of performance. The natural part of this definition comes from the fact that these abilities are driven by your natural talents, and the joyful part comes from the fact that being true to your natural talents is not only more comfortable, but also more productive (both of which are more joyful).

I will provide you with the findings from The Genius Project over my next few posts. I will also provide you information on what the results mean to you and how you can use the findings to achieve your own genius.

Responses from “DISC-ing Out A Thanksgiving Meal”
Based on your Behavioral Style this was probably your response to yesterday’s post:

High D – Look how long this is! Doesn’t he know I have things to do and people to meet? I’ll read it later (or not!). Send me the “Cliff Notes” version! Darn, I did forget the ice – I’ll call Andy and have him pick it up.

High I – Cooool! This is funny. Hmmm – a pot luck Thanksgiving meal – I gotta try that next year. Sounds like fun! Hey, that’s Aunt Nellie and that is Uncle Fred. OMG! This is me. He hit me spot on! I’ve gotta send this to Jane and John – They’ll get a real hoot out of this!

High S – Printed out the email and quickly circled the typo at the beginning of the second paragraph. (Yes it was put there on purpose just to satisfy the High S and C people. The one in the High S section really was a typo – congrats on finding that one too!) Started making notes in the margins on how to properly identify styles during the holiday meal. Why is this a narrative rather than a set procedure? Couldn’t he just tell me how to apply this step by step in my business? I’ll outline it and post a response, I know he is busy and could use the help.

High C – Also printed out the document – gotta save it for future reference! Also circled the typos, probably in red and maybe underlined them too! Why did he send out something with this obvious error? I bet the rest of it has errors too. Read the rest of the in proofreading mode – I know there are more mistakes in here. Never really read the document the whole way because their eyes kept being drawn back to the big red circle around the typo! I wonder why he didn’t list statistical proof for his conclusions? Probably disagreed with several points – NO SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION! - so decided it was inaccurate and tossed it in the trash. (Note to High Cs – You probably think my use of “gotta” two times in this email is inappropriate and improper – two times or three? You can’t help yourself – you’ll go back and count.)

For the non-High I’s in the group, these two emails were just for fun with some training wrapped around.

You’ll notice that the responses above get longer with each style – just like in life. Whether a holiday dinner or a business, Behaviors can tell us exactly what to expect and how to react. Are you using Behaviors to help yourself and your organization?

Again, thanks to my good friend Dr. Dennis Hocker! Behaviors can have a huge impact on how effectiely you interact with others.

Who style are those with whom you are communicating?

How flexible are you in your communication style?

How effectively do you communiate with each style?

A possible resolution for 2009?

DISC-ing Out A Thanksgiving Meal

In a just a little over twenty-four hours, many of us here in the US will have our bellies full of turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and who knows what other goodies. How we will get that way is the topic of today's email.

WheMany of you are familiar with personality assessments, particularly the Behavioral Type assessments. DISC is an acronym standing for Dominant, Influencing (or Interacting), Supportive (or Steady), and Compliant (or Conscientious) - in other words, how people respond to problems, people, pace and procedures. While many people try to avoid "taking these tests" in an attempt to hide what they feel are their deepest, personal secrets, let the truth be known that these behaviors are very obvious even to the casual observer.

DISC is the universal, observable language. Even if you never have heard of DISC before, you willl certainly recognize a few relatives, friends or acquaintances who exhibit these classic behavioral styles, representing D-I-S-C.

D Style
To High D behavioral types, Thanksgiving dinner is an event. The guest list is figured out on the fly, most likely on the back of a napkin or on whatever writing surface is handy. The list likely will include several strategic business guests. In fact, Thanksgiving dinner is the perfect venue to discuss a few business deals that just can't get done during working hours. High D behavioral types shop for groceries without a list. The fact of the matter is they don't have any idea what they'll serve for dinner - they'll know a good deal when they see it. If the long lines at checkout are too long, they may decide to make reservations at a local restaurant or country club or even order take out. Where ever and whenever they eat, they chose the place, meal and time. To high D's recipes are only guides. They add and substitute ingredients at will and use gravy and sauces to cover up the "mistakes". Microwaveable foods are a staple. If D-types actually do any cooking, the kitchen may be a mess but they know exactly where everything is. They will be in control. If your host is D behavioral style, don't be surprised to get a call on your mobile while on your way to stop for ice. When the D is ready to eat, he/she tells his guests where to sit. During dinner, expect a blow-by-blow description of each course. You'll hear how much time, money or effort it took to prepare. Recipes are described as "best", "special", "can't be beat", and "great deals."

I Style
High I behavioral types don't prepare dinner, they plan a party. They insist on only one rule - NO business talk! Grocery shopping is an experience - they go to the store at the busiest time so they can socialize and meet people. I-behavioral types may spend more time in the party store picking up holiday table cloths, napkins, dishes and decoration more than they do in the grocery store. They carry dozens of coupons, torn (not cut) from newspapers and magazines, stuffed in no particular order into an envelope or purse. I-behavioral types know where everything is in the store, whether you ask them to tell you or not. The guest list includes family, friends, neighbors and anyone who might otherwise have to eat dinner alone. The list resembles the yellow pages. I-types can't remember everyone they invited so they set extra places just in case extra people drop by. What time is dinner? Just drop-in. A menu? You've got to be kidding. The menu is potluck and the I-type just asks everyone to bring something along. I's use recipes but never measure ingredients and substitute freely. They may even experiment with a new recipe. Foods are selected for color, texture, and whatever looks good in their favorite bowls and dishes. They describe each course by how much fun it was to make it or a history on who gave them the recipe. Seating? Sit wherever you'd like. When it comes time to clean-up, guests will be scooted out the door - you'll hear, "I love to clean up." As soon as the last guest leaves, the I-behavioral type host plops down on the couch and "wishes" the dirty dishes away. "They will still be there tomorrow", the I-type thinks aloud, and puts off today what can be done tomorrow - still wishing for the "dish fairy" to come along while he/she is sleeping!

S Style
High S behavioral types prepare dinner for the entire family. In fact, they will prepare enough food to feed a neighborhood. You never know a guest may lot like a particular food or course, so the S prepares back-ups. "Family" for an "S" may include neighbors or anyone who doesn't have family to share the holiday with. "How terrible to spend the holiday alone" they think. They begin planning dinner weeks ahead by preparing a list. Next, they begin to clip coupons, even ones they don't need, just in case they meet someone at the store who doesn't have the right one. This list takes weeks to prepare. Finally the cooking begins. S-behavioral types begin making the feel-good foods first, desserts and appetizers, weeks ahead of time. Personalized invitations are prepared for guests, a few S-types preferring the hand-written invitation, taking the time to personalize each note. Every course is prepared from scratch using his/her favorite recipes, including special foods for the kids and anyone on a special diet. Often times the recipes are family traditions, handed down through the generations. They rarely use the microwave except for warming things up. Guests are seated in groups by family and friends. During dinner the S-behavioral type offers to share his/her recipes with everyone and likely have copies already prepared for distribution. There is always extra food for guests to take home in doggy-bags. The doggy bags may even have each guest's name on them including a label with what's inside and the date.

C Style
High C behavioral types prepare dinner for just the immediate family or may even prefer to eat alone. Dinner is more like a tradition or ritual than a celebration. Guests receive a formal invitation and an RSVP is required. C-types shop with coupons which are organized by aisles. They have a budget and click off items on a calculator as they work their way up and down the aisles. C-types have a practice run of each course throughout the preceding week. Recipes are followed exactly as written using measuring cups, utensils and timers. C-behavioral types would never think of substituting an ingredient, not even one brand for another. Guests have assigned seats and name cards are typed at each setting. (The cards are saved after each meal and re-used at future family events.) Rarely do C-types have any food left over - that would mean they made a mistake. If food is left over, they store it by meals in compartmentalized containers, just like the old "TV dinner". If asked about a recipe, C's describe each course in excruciating detail including the cost of the ingredients, the best place to purchase them, the best time to shop. The recipes are available upon request, which are stored in alphabetical order on computer printouts in the filing cabinet. After dinner, C's refuse everyone's offer to clean up - they have an unchangeable routine and a special place for everything. If by chance you get to peek inside their cabinets, don't be surprised to see the canned goods alphabetized and sized. If the C-Behavioral type does allow you to help, expect explicit instructions how to wash, dry, and put things away...and criticism when you don't do it exactly the "right" way. No one can clean up or put away the dishes as good as the high C behavioral type- so they think!.

A most important take-away from understanding behavioral types is that no one style is right or wrong. Likewise there is not one right way or one wrong way to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.

There is, however, a right way to celebrate Thanksgiving - be thankful for the opportunity to share Thanksgiving with friends and relatives, be thankful for the food you enjoy, be thankful for whomever prepares your meal, and be thankful we can laugh at our behavior!

Thanks to my good friend Dr. Dennis Hocker for sharing this. He is an extremely talented coach.

What role will you be playing on Thanksgiving?

This week is Thanksgiving week in the United States. It is during this time that we take a break from the hustle and bustle of our daily routines and give thanks for that we have and all that has been provided to us.

No matter your current employment status, personal and emotional states, there is much for all of us to be thankful. Most often, we look past the most basic items to be thankful on a daily basis. Why? We look past these basic items because we have become so wrapped up in our worlds that we simply look past many of the most important things in our lives. It is very typical for individuals to do this. The basic items become so much a part of our scenery that we look right past them. Yet, these are most important things in our daily lives. Without these basic items life would not be as fulfilling and even potentially empty! The following are a number of basic items that I am thankful for this week. I say this week because one day just isn’t enough!

Firstly, life! The mere fact that I am living and breathing experiencing life is a great thing! I am thankful for all of the interactions I have on a daily basis. I learn and grow with each one, even those that in the moment may seem less useful for me. When I stop and think about the interactions that might seem less useful in the moment, I often learn they are sometimes the interactions from which I have the most to learn. I would not be experiencing any of these interactions if I weren’t here. Life is awesome!

Secondly, family! Where would any of us be without our families? The hidden meaning here is that none of us would exist if it weren’t for our families. Our parents gave us life, our siblings gave us lessons! Our families have helped mold and shape us into the individuals we are today. While we may want to or have changed some of those things, our families have taught us many things through the course of our lives. Additionally, family will typically support you through the good and bad times. For most, family will represent unconditional love. For others, family can be a challenge. However, there is love in every instance, if you are willing to look!

Thirdly, friends and colleagues! Our friends and colleagues form the nucleus of our daily interactions. Every day we interact and learn from one another. They offer us diversity and variety in our daily lives. Each one of them brings a unique perspective and insight into our daily lives. Are we willing to hear their messages? I am thankful for all of the lessons they have taught me, whether I wanted to learn them or not! They have helped me to grow as an individual!

Fourthly, nature! Yes nature! There is much to see, hear, and feel on a daily basis, if we allow ourselves to experience and appreciate nature. The complete speculum of life is demonstrated to us every day by nature. It reveals many mysteries to us every day. Are you paying attention? Do you allow yourself to stop and smell the roses and really appreciate all that is around you? I remind myself every day to stop and appreciate all that nature has to offer and is showing me on a daily basis. This helps to keep me in balance.

Fifthly, my current financial and emotional states. These current states are teaching me things I need to know as I move forward on my life’s journey. They have taught me that being rich isn’t just the amount of money I have in my bank account or that being happy isn’t about wearing a smile every day. Being financially secure and emotionally happy are deeper than these outward signs. They are teaching you as well. Regardless if you view your state as favorable or unfavorable, you are learning every day. Each of us is at where we are at right now. We are in our current states for a reason. What do you need to learn from your current financial and emotional states?

Finally, I am thankful for my clients. If I didn’t have clients I would not be in business and living my dream. My clients are some of the greatest teachers in the world. I learn something from every interaction with every client. Whether they realize it or not, I learn as much from them as they do from me! My clients come from a wide variety of socio-economic statuses, races, countries, and personal states. Each brings their own unique insights and perceptions of the world which enables me to continually challenge myself to be the best success coach I can be.

So I challenge you to stop and take note of the basic items in your life for which you are thankful. I especially challenge you to do this if you live outside the United States. Regardless of your location, socio-economic and emotional state, there is much for which to be thankful. What are you thankful for today and better yet, everyday?