Self
Bridging the Gaps of Competency
An underdog’s approach to systematic improvement of the skills you care about.
Sarah sighed into the phone, “I struggled to fit the mold.” The heavy weight of unmet expectations still hung on her. She was my new ghostwriting writing client, a beautiful 50-year-old woman who is quite successful, but who’d spent her life as an underdog. She spoke of the pains of having strict parents, who’d fled a bloody revolution in China, and brought high standards with them.
She’d worked hard in school but still brought home Cs, and the occasional B if she was lucky. It stood in painful contrast to her whiz-kid brother, who attended Yale and became a renowned heart surgeon. Yet today, Sarah is one of the country’s most skilled and effective executive recruiters, running a booming agency that’s bursting at the seams with new business. She has become a sought after and highly paid expert in her field.
All of this despite her parents worrying she’d ever make anything of herself. In the ensuing months, I asked her many questions about how she did it. Notably, she said, “I’m not afraid to work hard and learn. I know my limits. If I’m in over my head with something, I get someone smarter. I don’t have an ego about getting help.” Her success became a triumphant middle finger…
