Comments on: Smart + Hard Working + Charismatic = Crazy Successful

By: danielgabrieli

danielgabrieli — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:06:56 +0000

Strike fear into the heart of your opponents and take what you can, when you can. Like Shaq.

I'd write more but I need to muddle in my cube some more.

By: danielgabrieli

danielgabrieli — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:06:56 +0000

Strike fear into the heart of your opponents and take what you can, when you can. Like Shaq.

I'd write more but I need to muddle in my cube some more.

By: Amit Klein

Amit Klein — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:57:56 +0000

@sandip – i do believe charisma can be cultivated to some extent. more important though is demonstrating to the people that you actually care about them. that's more important

@elroy – while I agree that working is smart is better then working hard, though from my experience it's the guys (and gals) who work effectively and longer then everyone else are the ones that really make it big. perception is also a tricky one, there are tradeoffs between making sure your team gets credit and you do as well. in the end i feel like it's better to try and push off most credit to the people around you. also perception of hours (although shouldn't) seem to matter. by just being there, sitting in your desk for long hours, seems to earn you respect (i hate this)

By: Sandip Vinayka

Sandip Vinayka — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:17:50 +0000

Like the post. One more aspect which I think is important to be successful in business is having a vision. At times even the smartest of people loose sight of the larger picture of what they are doing.

Buy the way are you sure someone can really cultivate a quality like “CHARISMA”?

By: Amit

Amit — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:12:06 +0000

Simply put. Cheers!

By: Elroy Serrao

Elroy Serrao — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:38:10 +0000

Nice thoughts. Agree with most of them, accept maybe the hard work part. I’ve never been a fan of working hard, especially harder than anyone else. For me the benchmark is more of whether I can work smarter than anyone else, do more effectively in lesser time than anyone else.
I guess my mantra for success is more a combination of smarts and charisma only. Personally, I’d say, put in the hours that you need to do the job well, ensure that you like and maybe at least respect the people that you work with and of course ensure that you do it as “smartly” as possible.
In addition to this, if you can take on additional tasks, definitely do so. I found a whole new level of learning and growth from taking on such tasks.
Of course, all this is pointless if at the end of the day people don’t perceive you as having done it all. That’s the last bit in the success formula, being perceived correctly as having done what you have done.