Page 243 - The extraordinary leader

220 • The Extraordinary Leader

in algebra, trigonometry, and calculus were excellent. On the other hand,
grammar and composition came hard to you. You neither enjoyed language
study much nor did you do well at it. To continue, you have decided to
embark on a path that would have you recognized as an excellent student.
Which path should you choose? Do you work hard at becoming better at
English? Or do you decide to leverage your head start in mathematics and
excel in that arena?
First, where will your motivation be highest? We think your passion to excel
will come in the quantitative arena. You like the fundamental activities
involved. Your thought processes immediately gravitate toward quantitative
analysis.
Second, where are you likely to feel some constant reward? Again, we argue
that you are far more likely to continually receive positive feedback when you
are engaged in quantitative activities than in anything having to do with lan-
guage. It is less likely that people will praise your having gotten to “average”
in grammar and composition skills.
Third, where are you apt to make the greatest amount of progress? You
could make the theoretical argument that people could improve more in
those areas in which they are weak. There is just a lot more room to move up.
However, the ceilings are so high in every discipline that no matter how good
a student you are now, there is huge room to grow.
Fourth, what is the best path by which to develop credibility? Becoming
good at something creates a halo effect of overall competence. It sometimes
goes to ludicrous extremes, as when a movie actress is asked for her opinions
on the wisdom of building a missile defense system or a Nobel Prize winner
in physics suddenly gets quoted for his views on the role of genetics in human
intelligence. Why? Because he is extraordinarily knowledgeable and creative
in one arena, we assume those gifts spill over into other areas. Whether war-
ranted or not, being good at one thing creates a perception that a person is
good at many things, or everything.

Confidence and Competence
Why Working on Strengths Is More Likely to Happen It is impossible to over-
estimate the role of confidence in people developing competence. We fre-
quently witness people who at one level would be deemed to be competent.
In a safe, sanitary situation, they are able to make an effective presentation.
However, they refuse to make a presentation in front of senior managers or
customers. Their lack is not of knowing what to do, or even being able to do