Hidden Secrets

Marcie Schorr-Hirsh missed an opportunity to say something interesting and meaningful in her post about the secret element that propels successful people to higher levels of achievement then comparable professionals who began their careers with similar tools (as based on education, training, and the like). She attributes different levels of success to some pap about differences in levels of adult development. That may be the case, but I see something else in the limited data discussed discussed in the post. Could it be that successful people simply look at things differently than their peers? While their colleagues are busy sitting at their desk for the appointed hours dutifully performing those tasks assigned to them by their boss, these soon to be successful people are working on projects that will actually impact the performance of the company. They are demonstrating their value while everybody else simply demonstrate useful utility.

It's easy to strive for perfection. Interesting work is a far more nebulous, and thereby more challenging, target. Interesting is deviating from the established routine and looking at a problem from a new perspective. Interesting is suggesting a new way to handle situations that have been handled the same way for a decade simply because that's the way that it's always been done. Interesting is doing work that you love simply for the love of the work, risks and rewards be damned! Perfection is a comfortable and familiar place. Interesting is a little strange and unsettling. Perfection is an important commodity with plenty of value. Interesting creates unexpected value with the potential to change an industry.

Interesting would be very difficult to coach, but perfection is very amenable to routines and strategies that a good career coach can use to squeeze a little more success from an executive or two. Maybe that's why Ms. Schorr-Hirsh passed on the opportunity to say something interesting about successful people.