Success and talent – are they related?

The correct answer is – partly.

Let’s take a hypothetical example. There are two students at university who have exactly the same IQ, pretty similar personality traits and score the same marks in the same classes. In other words before graduation their talent is identical.

Twenty years later and one of the students is the CEO of a multinational and the other is a middle manager. What happened here?

The first student was given more responsibility earlier, and on success was given more responsibility. Basically they ended up being on a steeper curve climbing up the ladder.

We want to live in an egalitarian world, and generally the developed world largely is.

The flipside is that when you succeed at something earlier then not only do you feel better equipped mentally to try something harder, but those around you trust you more and give you more resources.

The incremental increase in trust and resources translates into greater opportunities, and so on. This is self-reinforcing.

The above is a bit of a construct, but it is based on research which is proving that success does indeed breed success.

My tip to you is to start your company and try to grow as soon as you can. Don’t put it off.

The reasons above let you know why. Every day you are walking down the path to your goal is a day ahead you are of potential competition. Competition is important too as when you see them walking faster you pick up your own pace to match and all of you do better.

As a mental health check, if you find yourself being upset that someone you know of lesser talent than you wins work when you don’t, remember that it is not just talent that counts. They probably presented better to the customer than you did. Try to be happy for them and learn from them so you can better compete.