All
three of my children play basketball in local leagues. One of the groups
that they play with has t-shirts promoting their league and on the back of the
shirt it has the phrase “Hard
Work Beats Talent, When Talent Doesn’t Work Hard“. I
love this shirt because it is a lesson that we can all learn from.
On
an athletic level, it is clear. There are plenty of “gifted” athletes
that never excel because they rely on their natural ability to pull them through.
We see this in middle school, high school and we clearly see it in professional
athletics. It is always sad to see money and fame ruin a great athlete’s
career.
This
lesson can also be seen in academics. Some students rely far too much on
their natural ability and end up paying the price. We all have stories of
high school valedictorians that never made it through college. On the
other hand, we also have stories of kids who struggled through school and ended
up very successful in life. Sometimes those challenges we faced, made us
far more prepared for the real world.
There
is no simple secret to success. There are no silver bullets. There
are no short cuts. However, nothing is more important than preparation
and hard work. Yes, we can always point to the examples of people who
were successful by flying by the seat of their pants. We can also point
to the guy who jumped off the 3-story building and walked away without a
scratch. There are always exceptions. However, I prefer not to jump
off buildings.
In
business, we compete every day. We compete with other companies. We
compete with other employees. We compete with other candidates during
interviews. Does the most naturally talented individual always win?
No. Does the most naturally talented individual win most of the
time? I would argue “No”. In my experience the most prepared
individual wins.
It
is a common excuse in business to say, “We can’t compete with Goliath
Corporation. They are 5 times our size!” Other companies will always
have more people, more budget, better products, better market position and so
on. This should not, and cannot, be an excuse. Why do startups with
little or no budget beat billion dollar companies every day? It is simple
– because they can. They are rifle focused. They usually only have
one product, while larger companies have an array of products to worry
about. They don’t have legacy issues to deal with. They know that
failure is not an option, so they work exceptionally hard. If they don’t
succeed, their company fails. They simply don’t have other revenue
streams to fall back on. They are nimble and creative while larger
companies are often bureaucratic and slow moving.
The
lesson is simple, “Hard Work Beats Talent, When Talent Doesn’t Work
Hard”. Don’t make excuses. Simply work hard and be prepared.
You will win more often than you think.
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