How Superachievers Outperform Others

For as long as human beings have stood in awe of a few superachievers, there have been millions of others trying to unlock their secrets to success.

The science called “anthropo-maximology” can help increase our understanding of the outer limits of human greatness. Some of the world’s best scientists pooled their resources and developed investigative tools and research methods to pinpoint the most important characteristics of ultrasuccessful people.

Dr. Charles Garfield, a leading U.S. scientist, says, “We know that any human skill, no matter how complex or vital, has a structure. We now have the means to understand the structures and teach them to others.”

Top Russian scientists also predict that we’ll soon see the day when we can “clone” the key characteristics of superachievers.

In the field of selling, one of the first studies covering high-performance behavior characteristics was published in Harvard Business Review (July/August, 1964) by David Mayer and Herbert Greenberg. The authors, who studied more than 7,000 salespeople, found two key characteristics among top performers: empathy and ego drive.

Empathy refers to the ability to understand the prospect’s feelings. That knowledge can be used to make a successful presentation. Ego drive refers to a special need to conquer, which motivates the top achiever to close the sale.

Mayer and Greenberg also found that creativity played a central role. They concluded that due to lack of creativity and outdated sales training, many salespeople are actually held back from achieving their potential.

In the last 10 years, a number of significant studies have been conducted to identify additional characteristics of high-performance people. Dr. Sidney Lecker, who taught psychiatry at Yale University, focused his research on the planning and performance of successful people in business and politics.

Dr. Lecker identified eight abilities leading to high performance:

1) High-performance people know what they want and reject any activities which might distract them from their goal.

2) High-performance people develop macroattention to deal with giant undertakings, but at the same time, efficiently solve small day-to-day problems.

3) These people have the power of contrary thinking and can operate almost independently of what is happening in their environments. They create a success environment.

4) High-performance people can tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty. They can deal with confused situations that others would flee from.

5) These successful people set a winning pace in the marathon of life and thus avoid burn-out, “hitting the wall,” and other stress-related problems.

6) These people manage their emotions successfully and have all the characteristics of sound emotional health.

7) High-performance people know how to use other people to get ahead, how to delegate, how to network with other high performance people, and how to work cooperatively.

8) High-performance people understand and know how to use principles of human communication.

Jacqueline Thompson, New York researcher and author, has studied some of the most successful entrepreneurs, salespeople and business leaders in the United States today. She lists the traits of superachievers in her book, The Very Rich Book.

1) High-performance people are very competitive.

2) Work is the favorite hobby of high-performance people. They draw few distinctions between work and play.

3) High-performance people are social extroverts. At parties, they try to talk to almost everyone.

4) These ultrasuccessful people are neither pessimists nor optimists. They are open-minded, have few prejudices or preconceived notions, and are practical.

5) High-performance people are rarely sick and very seldom take a day off.

6) Highly successful people seek constant change and avoid the status quo and dull routines.

7) High-performance people have an almost unlimited attention span when they are doing something they enjoy.

Dr. Adele Scheele, a career strategist with a Ph.D. in change management, has been studying high-performance people since 1969. In her book Skills for Success, A Guide to the Top for Men and Women, she presents a unique set of guidelines for people who wish to reach their potential. She takes an unorthodox but profound approach to success by dividing people into two groups. The sustainers are those who do a competent job but wait for recognition, while the achievers work harder and set up contributions and rewards.

Dr. Scheele identifies three main career skills:

1) Self-presentation: Visibly getting and giving necessary attention

2) Positioning: Taking risks with people

3) Connecting: Bonding with colleagues, mentors and associates

Dr. Charles Garfield is CEO of the Charles Garfield Group, a consulting and educational firm specializing in strategies for superior service, quality and performance. He holds doctorate degrees in mathematics and psychology and has spent a considerable amount of effort researching many fields of high performance, including sports, business and selling. He is known for his innovative interviewing methods. (He asks his subjects targeted questions to test their earlier answers.)

Dr. Garfield describes the six key characteristics he has found in almost all high performers:

1) High performers are able to transcend their previous levels of achievement.

2) They avoid “comfort zones” where others get stuck.

3) They are guided by internal goals.

4) They solve problems rather than place blame.

5) They confidently take risks after examining the worst consequences of an action.

6) They mentally rehearse coming events.

The Profile of Success

Although many researchers have made significant progress in identifying behavioral characteristics of top performers, only a few have been able to create ready-to-use diagnostic tools for sales managers.

Among these pioneers, The HR Chally Group of Dayton, OH, has developed a “Successful Sales Profile Comparison” form, which evaluates 17 success characteristics of salespeople selling to consumers. The form tests personality traits like assertiveness, persuasion skills, the desire to meet new people, level of energy, etc.

The ultimate challenge to be met by “success scientists” is to translate the research findings into effective training programs and thus to achieve the ultimate goal – to translate successful performance characteristics.

Many training groups and in-house training professionals are using such modern techniques as behavior modeling, interactive video and computer-learning techniques. But Dr. Garfield claims that achieving high performance goes far beyond the everyday training of basic job skills.

“The development of high performance,” says Dr. Garfield, “is partially a matter of fine-tuning, knowledge and aptitudes that we already possess.”

Self-Training for High Performance

1) Inventory your own high-performance characteristics.

List the key performance characteristics described in this article. Rate yourself on how many items apply to you now. Ask your boss, spouse or peer to rate you on all points. This information will help you to set new performance goals for yourself.

2) Study your own performance.

Repeat your own best performance more often. Analyze your most successful sales calls. Learn to objectively describe what led to your success. Break down your techniques into separate steps. (For example, what you said, tone of voice, eye contact, body posture, selling strategy, timing, visual aids, etc.) Try to pinpoint when and where you’ve noticed a significant, positive change in your prospect’s reactions.

3) Study high performers in action.

Once you know the techniques used by superachievers, you can make them work for you. It is important not to mimic the other person, but to integrate the new skills into your own personal behavior.

4) Apply what you’ve learned: Perform.

Don’t ask yourself when the performance of the economy will improve, ask yourself when your own performance will improve.