Harrison Barnes » writing

Consistency and Commitment Beat Brilliance and Talent

Harrison Barnes — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 05:01:03 +0000

When I was growing up in Detroit, I went to school with kids whose parents were the Chief Executive Officers of major auto companies and were in other high level roles. Sometimes I would turn on the television and see the same men I’d eaten dinner with at a friend’s house on the nightly news giving a press conference in Washington, or speaking about an issue of national importance. Another one of my friend’s father was the CEO of a major national bank and, by the time I was 13 or 14, I was smart enough to realize I could learn a lot from these men. I figured they must all be enormously gifted intellectually and have other skills which I could learn. In my spare time I read books such as Iacocca, about Lee Iacocca, and when the Publisher’s Clearing House mail came to my mother’s house I ordered Forbes, Business Week and a ton of other business magazines so I could impress these nationally important men and talk to them about their careers and what they did. I remember after reading a book about Lee Iacocca, and having spent months reading business magazines, I had the opportunity to speak with one of my friend’s father. He used to work for President Ford writing speeches, and he now worked directly for Henry Ford writing his speeches. Because I had read so much, I realized after about an hour, I knew much more than even he did about various aspects of his business. When I was 13 or 14, I dominated dinnertime conversations at my friends’ homes spinning off facts and figures and entertaining major figures in various auto companies. The more I talked about business with these men, the less I realized they knew. I could not believe men who might have gotten MBAs from Harvard Business School knew so little. I figured that, based on their lack of knowledge about arcane business facts, none of them must be all that intelligent. Most of these men were from all over the country and had joined, right out of school, automobile companies, banks and the other institutions they would one day lead. In at least one incident I recall, one man worked on an automotive manufacturing line in a factory during college. In another case, one of my friend’s father even went to a school called General Motors Institute (no longer in existence) which was a college run by General Motors. Every day, these men got up early and drove into Detroit. They came home late each evening. Once a year, they took vacations for a couple of weeks, usually skiing in Colorado or at a ski resort in Michigan. At the same time, most had wives who never worked and stayed at home raising the children and providing their husbands with the sort of environment that would enable them to succeed. By the time I met many of these titans of business and industry, they had been getting up at the same time to go to work and living the life they lived for over 30 years–more than twice as long as I had even been on the earth. And there I was sitting at their dining room tables uncovering how much information they did not know and believing they were stupid. The more I realized these men did not know about arcane business facts, the more I read. One thing I quickly realized was none of these men were angry, and all of them seemed to enjoy learning what they did not know from a child. In addition, there was a very gentle way about them because, despite the fact I must have looked like an idiot spewing forth various facts and figures, they never sought to correct me. They were always quite diplomatic in all respects. Just because I was aware of more facts and figures, it certainly did not mean I was more talented than these men. On the contrary, they were actually busy leading their lives and careers while I stood on the sidelines simply reading about it. Now some 20+ years later I can reflect on what was going on:

I certainly have never been on the evening news giving my opinions before the United States Congress.
I do not sit in the office of the President of the United States and give him advice about what to talk about in speeches and write speeches for him.
My actions and opinions are not mentioned weekly in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

I now look at these men with profound respect because the lesson their careers hold is something I have certainly learned from, and you can too: Work ethic and consistency trump brilliance and talent. There are many people with a lot of talent, or who know a lot. These talented people may know more than the next person. They may be better socially. They may have a better idea of what needs to be done. They may have better educations. They may be better sales people. They may be more connected. But when it comes right down to it, none of this really matters if the talented person cannot simply “show up” and do the same thing over and over. The people who win and become the most successful are the ones who generally put in a massive effort over the long run. Nothing is more effective than being consistent. The Grand Canyon could never have been built by one giant flood. Instead, it was built over millions of years by a consistent flow of water that applied a small amount of pressure and erosion over time. So, too, it is with your career. If you are consistent, you will achieve a lot more over time than if you are not. Talent and brilliance have sex appeal. Talent is something that blows us away. Several years ago, I was sitting in the living room of my mother’s house in Detroit, and in the other room was a man who was providing one of the most brilliant analyses of the meaning of the world I have ever heard. The more this man’s mind worked through an idea, the more brilliant I realized he was. At the time, I was 27 and had been through college and law school. In addition to practicing law, I was also teaching in a law school. I had heard a lot of very brilliant men speak in my career, but the person I was listening to was incredible. As I listened to this man speak, I was firmly convinced he was the most brilliant man I had ever heard. After he left, I found out he had an extraordinary IQ and had received a PhD from Princeton. However, he had never applied his skills. Instead, he was living in a small $350 a month apartment and had lived there for years. He did not use his brilliance in his job and, instead, his talent went to waste because it was not being consistently applied. He had worked in multiple jobs in his career. What if this man had decided to spend his career writing? What if this man decided to spend his career teaching? He did none of those things and, despite incredible talent, nothing ever happened. We need to apply our talents. Talent is fickle. Sometimes talent shows up, and other times it does not. In contrast, being consistent requires a high level of tenacity. You need to keep plowing through. You cannot give up. Anyone can be a better performer in one thing or another for a short time. What really takes skill is to consistently perform over time. This is what my friends’ fathers were all doing. Imagine 30+ years of doing the same thing and climbing within the same organization. This consistent effort is what creates the best results and enables people to win over time. Only certain people are born with brilliance and incredible talent, but anyone can exercise their option to work hard. When we are consistent, we make small bits of progress on a daily basis. Making small daily bits of progress are what transform careers and lives. Anything you focus on consistently will make you better. Many people lack the ability to consistently focus over time, and instead believe one small flash of brilliance or talent will make a difference. This is almost never the case. Consistency and work ethic always trump brilliance and talent. THE LESSON Consistency and commitment trump brilliance and talent; the most successful people are those who put massive long-term effort into their careers. Only certain people are born with innate talent or brilliance, but consistent effort lies within the reach of anyone and is ultimately a much greater factor in success. Anything to which you apply consistent focus will show progress.

Scarface and the Passion of New Immigrants to the United States

Harrison Barnes — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:01:35 +0000

Scarface is a 1983 movie about a man who comes over as an immigrant from Cuba to Miami in the 1980s. Between approximately April and October of 1980, there was a mass exodus of Cubans to Miami from Cuba. During this short period of time, over 125,000 Cubans made the boat journey between the United States and Cuba. This movement occurred due to a massive downturn in the Cuban economy. The boat lift quickly began to have negative implications for President Carter when it was discovered that many of the exiles were people who had been released from Cuban mental health facilities and jails. The lead character in the movie is Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino. Montana comes over to the United States from Cuba with a checkered past. He arrives in the United States with nothing, and he gets his green card by killing someone in a refugee camp, which allowed him to gain favor with someone who is able to expedite his admission to the United States. His first illicit job in the United States is when he is offered the chance to pick up some drugs in exchange for cash. He was working as a short-order cook before this point. The small diner he was working for was across the street from a fancy nightclub. He watched the Ferraris and Porsche’s roll up at night and watched men exit with beautiful women. This was the lifestyle he wanted for himself. And when he was offered his first job, for like $5,000, he told the man offering him the job that the money was not enough. He managed to get himself awarded an even more difficult job. The man who offered him the job laughed when he gave it to him. He believed that Pacino was sure to die. But Pacino took it anyway. Sure enough, when he showed up at the job all hell broke loose. His brother was strung up and cut up with a chainsaw, but Pacino remained tough. Pacino eventually somehow managed to kill everyone and left a hotel (where the deal was) covered in blood and gunfire. That night, he delivered the drugs and money to the head drug dealer (whom he had not met before). The drug dealer took him out to dinner, and Pacino was there looking like a goof, an unbuttoned shirt, talking in ways which were entirely inappropriate, and so forth. Pacino asked the head drug dealer’s wife (the beautiful Michelle Pfieffer) to dance. She said OK. She told him he’s a pig while they are dancing. “You wait, you see . . . you’ll be mine,” he told her. “I’d sooner be dead than wind up with a boat person like you,” she told him. He did eventually marry her. And as the two were dancing that night, one of the drug dealers looked at the head drug dealer and asks: “Why would you have anything to do with that piece of garbage?” “Because a man like that will do anything for you. He’ll never quit. He’s that loyal to the idea of success. He’ll die fighting.” This is an incredible scene because in reality it is true. Montana is so dedicated to the idea of success that he will die fighting for anything. He desperately wants success and knows that he needs to fight and pay the price to get it. Montana ends up becoming obscenely successful and wealthy. Scarface is a fascinating movie because it shows the power of our will. In effect, it is also a story about everyone in America because we are all “boat people” to some extent who have come to the United States from other countries in search of something. The difference between us and Montana is how hungry most of us are. When new immigrants come to the United States, they are extremely hungry. Decades later, their children generally do not follow in their footsteps. The children of new immigrants typically are less successful than their parents, and the children of the immigrant’s children are even less successful. I am going to say something that a lot of people will find offensive, but I am going to say it anyway because there is some truth to it. When my father was growing up and in school he remarked to me that the hardest working kids in school were typically Jewish. This is something I have heard others say before. Many of these kids had parents who were recent immigrants in the suburbs of Detroit where I grew up. Their parents had grown up during a time when there was a lot of anti-semitism and they pushed their kids to work extremely hard in school. Newer ethnic groups typically do not have an “old boy” sort of network to rely upon and, therefore, their parents may push them to overcompensate in other ways. When I was growing up, this was not necessarily the case. The hardest working kids tended to be Asian in my school. The second hardest tended to be the Jewish kids, and the third hardest working, as a general rule, tended to be the white Christian kids. I do not think there is anything racist about what I am relating. I also do not think there is anything discriminatory about what I am writing. I think there is a pattern in what I witnessed and was completely obvious in the schools around me. The children of newer immigrants to the United States tend to work harder (as a general rule) than the children of people who have been in this country for a longer period of time. I am not sure that the observations I have should be made on religious or racial grounds—indeed, they are likely more appropriately made on the “recent immigration” grounds. More recent immigrants and their children tend to, as a general rule, be people who are more interested in working harder than people who are more established. A couple of years ago I was getting a haircut on Mission Street in San Marino, California. San Marino is a relatively wealthy suburb right outside of Los Angeles. The suburb has the distinction of having the best school system in Los Angeles and one of the best in the United States. There is a white barber there who has been cutting hair on Mission Street for probably at least 50 years. San Marino used to be a predominately Catholic and Protestant neighborhood. Now, San Marino is at least 50% Chinese, and the population of Chinese keeps growing. The barber and I were speaking one day and he made the following observation: “Before the Chinese started moving here, all of the white kids in the San Marino schools used to get As and Bs. Now they all get Cs and Ds.” I had heard other people say this in San Marino before and something similar to this. This is not a racist statement in my opinion. The truth of what he was saying could have been phrased without using racial overtones: “As a generality, recent immigrants to the United States work much harder than people who have been here longer.” This is true, I believe, and I do not think there is anything prejudiced in saying this. Sitting on my desk right now is the resume of a Russian woman whom I do not think has been living in the United States more than a year or so. I interviewed her about six months ago for a position with our company. She is an attorney and has passed the bar exam. When I interviewed her, I realized that she did not speak English very well and would probably not be a good fit because her position required her to interact with the public. Nevertheless, in the six months since I interviewed her, and after having interviewed probably at least 25 people for the position she is applying for, I cannot stop thinking that she is the best person I interviewed for the position. “I never fail at anything …” she said. “I work as hard as possible for you and company …” she said. “I really want job …” she said. “I am extremely loyal …” she said. I contrast this with many of the “native” Americans I have interviewed who have showed up for the interviews and asked me all sorts of questions about what I could do for them. They often acted coy and have had numerous jobs. They talk about leaving one job after another due to some dissatisfaction with their boss or the need for different experiences. They just do not seem hungry, and I know they likely will not do all that well. This is something I see all the time. An employer wants to hire people who are hungry and want to work hard. I emailed the Russian woman last night to see if she was still available to work. She hardly speaks English but is the best fit I have seen. I know that she wants to succeed and will do better due to this. We want to hire people who are hungry. Maybe your parents are recent immigrants to the United States. Maybe your parents’ parents were immigrants to the United States. At some point in your past, there was likely someone who came to this country and wanted nothing more to succeed. This is something most people have when they get here. They are escaping a class system of a different country or conditions where they could not rise in their own country. Perhaps they were surrounded by poverty. Perhaps they were not allowed to work in their chosen profession. There are any number of things that may have held your relatives back in their home country. People generally do not pick up and immigrate to another country if things are good and they have a lot of opportunity where they came from. Are you interested in emigrating to any country at the moment? Most Americans never leave America to seek greener pastures elsewhere because this is where they believe the greenest pastures are. You need to rekindle the spirit of your ancestors and get hungry. People who come to this country are hungry to succeed. They are also excited to succeed and do great things. They want to take on the world and become someone. This is a spirit that far too many people end up losing somewhere along the line. Usually, once a family has been here awhile, the successive generations end up getting lazier and lazier for some reason. This is just what happens. These families talk about how their relatives did great things in the past but never do any of those great things themselves. You need to get the spirit of the new immigrants to this country and get excited. You need to create a legacy now and realize what tremendous opportunities you have. These opportunities were not available most likely wherever your relatives came from 10, 50, 100, 200, or more years ago. They were excited for what you have now. You should be too. THE LESSON Recent immigrants exemplify the benefits of willpower, passion, and excitement in the way that they work so much harder for their goals than the people who have been here for most or all of their lives. Like most Americans, you need to rekindle the spirit of your immigrant ancestors and become hungry for what you want. The entrepreneurial spirit that brought people to America has often faded over time; adopt the fire and work ethic of new immigrants in order to achieve your goals.