Understanding Success

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s third book “Outliers”. It focuses on the origins of success. Gladwell brings home lessons that should be remembered. Think about how these factors might apply to you or your company:

1) There’s no substitute for hard work.
You and the people at your company must be willing to put in the time and effort to grow the business. No athlete, business person, musician, or anyone else succeeds without hard work. One of my favorite sayings in the book is an ancient Chinese proverb- “No man who rises before dawn 365 days a year fails to make his family rich.”

2) The 10,000 hour rule
If you want to be great at something, or at least be known as an expert, you need to study this subject for at least 10,000 hours. This holds true for anything. Be careful letting more experienced employees go just because “they cost me more”. Losing their tremendous wisdom and experience could leave a big void in your business.

3) The importance of cultural norms
For example, many Asians are accomplished in math not because of their IQ- but due to their work ethic: how their numbering system works, the precision required growing rice, and of course, willingness to attend schools an extra 50 days a year. What is the work norm at your company? Is everyone punching the clock or actually getting things done?

4) The need for opportunity and encouragement.
The bottom line: no one succeeds alone. We all need encouragement and nurturing. This becomes a real challenge when companies are shutting down on communication and training. Are you people being nurtured properly?

5) The importance of expressing yourself.

This discussion first came up in a risk management context in which Korean airline pilots were causing crashes because subordinates were intimidated about contradicting their superiors- even in the face of a disaster. Many times, CEO’s or presidents of companies are the last ones to know the truth until they’re in the middle of a problem. Here’s the point: we must “invite” subordinates to bring us their ideas, to break past the “Culture of Silence”.

6) Meaningful Work
One of my favorite quotes from the Gladwell book is “Hard work is a prison sentence only if it doesn’t have meaning”. Most of us work hard, but do you really love the work you do? Gladwell says there are three factors that are essential to our work if we are to be successful:
---Autonomy gives us a sense of responsibility for the work that we do.
---Complexity allows us to grow and learn.
---Meaning lets us realize the impact of our work.

The lack of your employees having autonomy, complexity, and meaning will continue to deprive your business of excellent workers who find it more meaningful to work for themselves.

What do you do at your business to allow your employees to have autonomy, complexity, and meaning in their day-to-day activities?



Have a great week!

Bobby Bland PWCA, CIC
Vice President
Commercial Risk Service