Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Underachievers”
You boss might not be Benito Mussolini like you think, regardless of how much he resembles him when he lectures the team. I have really enjoyed Mary’s comments on these thoughts on how underachievers (overachievers) can get right fitting work. About my last post (“Knowing Who You Are Can Get You Out of Underachievement“, she wrote: When I read “Underachievers, …
Some of you may not believe that knowing who you are and what size work you could do (given the opportunity and some mentoring) will have any affect on the rut you now find your career in. Here’s a short statement from Alan, whom I’ve been talking with for the past few years.
Let’s take a look at art. Because part of the artist’s dilemma is how to price a particular piece. And this is related to our questions about underachievers. I’ve been coaching Paula, a Chicago-based artist who is a high potential. (If you’re know the numbers, she coded as 4L at 32.) She’s an amazing individual, someone who had Pres. George …
I recently had the strangest set of conversations. A friend of a friend (yes, really) connected me with a guy whom he thought might be Stratum 7. At 41. He was passing through my neck of the woods (at least while working during the week — I work away from home): would I want to meet up with him closer …
Recently, I had the misfortune to have to do some work behind a knee wall in my converted attic. It’s less than three feet (~ 0.9m) tall and not all that wide. I’m about 5’10” (1.8m) so to work in there, I have to spend the entire time crouched down. To get anywhere, you either crawl on your hands and …
When last we left them, the three union men Glacier Metal Company managers had burst upon Elliott Jaques with the brilliant solution that had come to them while drinking: the reason why some people got paid more than others had to do with how long it took to get paid. My fictionalization aside, what made this any more brilliant than …
(The next post today will address the Underachieve issue directly. This one describes why Wilfred Brown is important to listen to. We’ll refer to these things later.) As Paul Holstrom pointed out, my telling of the story about the Glacier guys coming up with Timespan was a bit off. They had been having a pint and were talking about the …
Do you feel like you’re underachieving because you are just stuck where you are and can’t get out? Byron (not his real name) feels like this. He was doing well for a long time. A graduate of one of the top HR schools in the U.S. He had been the compensation manager for a shoe company with operations in several …
We’re taking a detour on our answer to last week’s question on Adult Underachievers to address something that has popped up in emailed responses. It’s a great question because it gets to the real heart of the matter. It may address a problem that was never raised when we talked about Maye Rain’s belief that she was an underachiever, even …
Some random thoughts I’ve had over the past couple of years, collected. Randomly. About what I call underemployed or underutilized high-mode individuals. Others call them “ex- gifted child” or “adult underachiever” or “irritating screw ups”. If you don’t know what “mode” means, here’s a quick explanation. Elliott Jaques and Wilfred Brown discovered that people’s ability to handle complexity was tied …
