Why Failure Usually Comes Down to Personality
By Mika Libambu Schiller
One of the ironclad rules of the human condition is that anything difficult takes more than one person to accomplish. In reality, what makes difficult things so difficult is that there are so many variables involved that require the right kinds of people to understand them and to work together.
If you spend enough time working towards something, chances are that you'll get what you want in one form or another...granted that within that period of time you manage to find the right ways to work with the right people. Your success at that will depend to a large degree on your personality.
Your personality is the number one factor in determining your success in life...hands down. Personality encompasses a lot though; drive, persistence, openness, etc.
That means that if you don't have the type of personality that allows you to do things like change your mind when evidence presents itself or subdue your ego to the common good, it's highly unlikely that you'll get far at anything at all.
That's a pretty sobering statement. The good news is that the execution of your personality is something you have complete control over. In other words, you can change the way you do things to increase your chances of succeeding.
Let's take something like starting up a successful music enterprise; band, indie record label, whatever. It's a profit-making enterprise. These days, it's gotten more complicated to start one because of all the new moving parts. If you lead any type of a music enterprise, you've got to think about all of the people who are going to execute on all the new business realities out there; the new stuff like social media and blogs and the other stuff like website maintenance, creative direction, business management, touring, etc.
With so many variables involved and with the multitude of people required to execute on an idea, it's no surprise that most things that get started don't last because of conflicts of interest.
What I've discovered is that for the vast majority of people, their ego often times more important to them than the goal of the group or of the project at any given point in time. It's even worse with highly skilled and creative people. Sometimes, even if they know that an idea is right, they reject it because they didn't come up with it. Or they just won't fully buy into it and it slows down progress. It kills group morale.
One thing I've learned is that the best way to deal with the human ego is through what I call the Law of Positive Reinforcement. It sounds like fluff, but it's not. And it's not an entirely new idea either.
It basically states that, being that people are driven by ego, and that you'll never change that, the best way to make progress is by stroking people's egos. And you do that by compromise through logic and persuasion.
If you have an idea for something, it's more likely to get accepted by people if you detach your own ego from it. People are status driven. The minute they perceive that your idea is tainted with your own ego, they dig in their heels. If you argue in a nuanced way with facts, they can't attack you.
It works the other way too. If someone proposes an idea and you have a better alternative, you pick their idea apart with facts, not opinion. Progress is made when people agree on the facts.
Politicians do that all the time. Barack Obama's a master at it. He has the ability to attack any angle of an issue without injecting himself personally. That's why everybody thinks he's such a nice guy. I don't doubt he is, but he's also a sharp-elbowed politician. He just conceals it well.
This is all common sense stuff, but hard to act on because our egos often get in the way of measured action.
So, if you want to get things done, realize that the world is full of flawed human beings. You need them. And you need to stroke their egos.
Mika Schiller author blurb: Mika Schiller is a writer for the Indie music website MADE and he writes about where the music industry's headed and how it relates to the Independent Music artist. He gives irreverent career and personal development advice to the Indie music artist. For more great writing and irresistible advice, along with a free report on effective MySpace music marketing, please visit http://www.letsgetmade.com
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