In my more than thirty years of consulting, I have found that, without question, natural intelligence is the most important success indicator in the business arena and the single most significant differentiator at the upper echelons of large organizations. Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman recognized this when he pioneered his IQ tests in the early 1900s.Read more
Clearly, the world needs more virtuosos, but they don’t seem to spring forth, fully formed from the La Brea Tar Pits. Nature or nurture, something happens early in life to cause these exceptional creatures to roam the earth. To better understand the process, I recently interviewed former Space Shuttle Commander and retired United Space AllianceRead more
Today’s economy does not allow for mediocrity. You have to deliver results better and faster than your competition does, but only virtuosos can do that. Identifying and developing these exceptional people will position you for a competitive advantage both now and in the future. I should point out, however, that not all virtuoso teams functionRead more
When virtuosos join together in the pursuit of a common goal, miraculous things can happen. Sometimes an exceptional leader can recast the ordinary into the extraordinary, as George Washington did at Valley Forge, but more often marvels occur when leaders have stellar talent to start with. That happened at the Winter Olympics in 1980. TheRead more
In Landing in the Executive Chair: How to Excel in the Hot Seat, I described “virtuosos” as those people who distinguish themselves and exemplify E5: excellence, expertise, experience, enterprise, and ethics. Of these five, excellence poses the most challenges for understanding it and attaining it. What makes us excellent? First, we must be aware ofRead more
