My job is all about finding and nurturing talent.
Sometimes, you find talent in the weirdest places or at a time when you really don’t think that you need it, but BAM! It just hits you right square in the eyes. Talent comes in all forms of people, and sometimes from where you least except to see it. I have seen talent develop over the years from a receptionist in the beginning to now one of the top leaders in the company, forming over decades. Talent has grown from another individual who was tormented in one role but when moved to another job where their skillset could really be unleashed, they have run circles around everyone around them. In myself, not that I think of myself as talented. I still see the 22 year old showing up to work an hour and a half on the first day, without a clue what was supposed to be done but only interested in proving that he could outwork everyone. Then going on to grow a business really without much of a plan, only the mindset that there was always more to do.
Other times, you see talent go the opposite direction. You meet someone with such promise and desire. This person is eager and always on go and ready to help. But over time, you only start to see problems compounded by problems that end up totally changing this person’s trajectory. There are people who show they have what it takes and have the fire down below to grow, and they go over time to accomplish great things. You think this person is literally unstoppable, but they let a person or a comment or a situation totally derail them. One simple moment will forever change the success this person could have had. They shrink into a pit of “everybody” is out to get me and “I am greater than everyone around me,” and it implodes their ability, and they end up either quitting or leaving. Then, there are those who you know have talent but from day-one it is kind of “them against the world,” and because they have the desire and ability you let them run. You want to see what they can do even when those around you question this person or flat out cannot work or want to communicate with this person. This maybe is the hardest of talented people to accept because for you they do all that you want them to do, BUT they cannot get along with others and will not accept the fact that it takes great teamwork to do great things.
When I think about all the types of talent that doesn’t succeed, it all comes back to some reason that these individuals simply cannot get out of their own way. They all have (or had) what it takes, but they let some factor cause them to be stifled or felt there was something in their path that they could not move. I wont say that it doesn’t bother me anymore to see this, because years ago these experiences use to throw me into mental anguish. Distraught over the time I spent with these people only to see them fail at the mission planned for them. Now, I have come to realize that I cannot help those who can’t seem to find a way out of their own way.
My saving grace in why I didn’t end up like this was because of a great mentor. A mentor who would motivate me, encourage me, build me up all along to be able to do what I aspired to do. This mentor was so great that he would also tear me down piece by piece and never allow me to blame anyone for something that I had control over. I was never allowed to get in my own way, and that is what makes the difference.