In my youth my (pre-girls) passion was cricket and
particularly Lancashire League cricket.
As a very ordinary off spin bowler, my role model was an extraordinary
leg spin bowler called Tom.
He managed to deliver sumptuous leg breaks and gigantic
googlies while bowling like a demented octopus, arms and legs flailing in all
directions. To say that batsmen had
difficulty in picking his googly is an understatement. In fact they seemed to have just as much
difficulty in deciding which of his wildly gyrating extremities would be
delivering the ball.
The consequence was, of course, that he developed a
reputation for invincibility in the League and he went on to bigger and better
things in his career. Sadly it was cut
short by physical problems but the memory remains.
So what is the point of this tale? The point is that even though he had talent,
enthusiasm, drive and commitment to the cause, his greatest attribute was that
he was different.
I don’t mean different for the sake of it, or to make an
impression. I mean rather be different
so as to impact on other people’s thinking, to help them to change in a
positive sense and to stand out from the crowd which is becoming bigger and
bigger.
Our education system from GSCE through A-levels, University
and then post graduate studies, can lead to a standardisation of the eventual
outcomes with an emphasis on conventionality.
Will and Kenneth Hopper in their wonderful book, The Puritan
Gift, quote Professor Russell L Ackhoff formerly of the Wharton Business School
in the USA as saying that there are three principal achievements of a business
school education which are “to equip
students with a vocabulary that enables them to talk about subjects they didn’t
understand, to give students principles that would demonstrate their ability to
withstand any amount of disconfirming evidence, and finally, to give students a
ticket of admission to a job where they could learn something about management”.
These are very sage comments and comes from someone who knows what they are talking about. I should point out that he waited until he had retired before voicing them at least in print.
In my long years as a CEO group Chairman in Vistage
International I have come to realise that the people who are attracted to
membership are those who are inherently different in attitude and
behaviour. Certainly it isn’t for everyone
and some people find the experience daunting whereas those who take to it do so
with vast enthusiasm and commitment.
It is no surprise to me that quite a few Managing Directors
and CEO members of Vistage, at least in the UK, did not go to University but
found their success through being different, through a burning desire to
succeed, through humility and a voracious appetite for continuous learning.
Visit the Vistage UK website
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