INTELECTUAL & PERSONALITY TRAITS OF HIGH ACHIEVERS
INTELLECTUAL TRAITS
- Thinks several moves ahead
- Processes and synthesizes information quickly
- Makes connections within and between systems when others see information as unconnected
- Rapid information integration leads to answers that feel intuitive
- Assesses multiple variables and contingencies when making a decision
- Tendency to think several layers deeper than the surface of a conversation
- Values intellectual rigor and thorough assessment over assumptions
- Intellectually curious and willing to challenge own conclusions
- Able to quickly extrapolate concepts from minimal data points for fast pattern recognition
- Processes in parallel rather than sequentially
- Independent thinking – tends to run accepted truths through critical filters
- Hold multiple complex scenarios in working memory and able to process them simultaneously.
“Why am I the only one who sees this problem?”
HOW IT FEELS
- Sometimes it’s frustrating to get to the right answer quickly and wait for other people to catch up. You may find yourself bored in conversations.
- Sometimes High Achievers feel like they need to dumb down their thinking to connect with others.
- High Achievers often feel they need to hold back or tread carefully to avoid intimidating others. This sometimes makes it hard to feel like they can be themselves and/or share their thoughts.
- A lot of conclusions feel like “common sense.” It can be confusing when trying to understand why others don’t see it or get it.
- Intuitive conclusions can create self-doubt and/or cause High Achievers to spend extra time reverse-engineering their thought sequence.
- Lonely sometimes.
- Conventional advice rarely applies, which can be intermittently frustrating, lonely or scary as there are few templates to bounce an approach against.
- High Achievers see fatal flaws others miss, and it feels challenging/fatiguing to know how to address the gap without sounding patronizing or critical.
- High Achievers often feel most satisfied when they are able to do deep work and strategic thinking.
PERSONALITY TRAITS
- Feels the weight of responsibility, even in areas that are outside their ownership
- Honest, sometimes to a fault
- Strong-willed, may need extra information to change their opinion
- Action-oriented and impatient on the inside
- Kind but not necessarily in an overt, touchy-feely manner
- Thrives on challenges related to new learning or novel problem-solving
- Hates incompetence
- High expectations of self
- Tendency to view weakness as failure
- Ambitious and driven
- Open-minded and curious
- Underestimates own uniqueness–“I’m not that special”
- Often dry or subtle sense of humor
- Values excellence in process and outcomes.
- Contrarian tendencies when faced with surface-level answers.
- Many are introverted/need time alone to regroup.
HOW IT FEELS
- People tell High Achievers not to be hard on themselves, but that can be confusing when one doesn’t know what type of standards are realistic.
- Feeling responsible for failures–“I should have known better” can make High Achievers feel extra shame or doubt themselves.
- It’s hard to know what is enough. The combination of being both humble and a High Achiever creates a juxtaposition where one is constantly driving for excellence and simultaneously trying to understand what is “normal.” This uncertainty creates stress.
- High Achievers often focus on the next goal and may struggle to enjoy their accomplishments.
- High Achievers find that achieving “balance” is ever-elusive, and this can feel like they are addressing life incorrectly or that something is wrong with them.
- Some High Achievers want recognition but get uncomfortable with attention or overt praise.
INTERPERSONAL STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES
STRENGTHS
- Able to see others’ potential
- Cares deeply about people
- Loyalty and dedicated in important relationships
- Thoughtful consideration of others’ perspectives
- Genuine interest in others’ growth and development
- Appreciation for authentic interactions
- Values substance over social pretense
- Prefers straightforward communication
- Eager to help and problem-solve
- Perceived as very competent
She doesn’t understand the problem. I tried to explain once, but I don’t want to embarrass her. Do I try again? This is hard.
CHALLENGES
- Impatience with those who can’t keep up intellectually
- Difficulty finding true peers
- May come across as intimidating without intending to do so
- Gets frustrated explaining concepts that seem obvious
- Tendency to overestimate others’ understanding
- Sometimes perceived as aloof when deep in thought
- Challenge finding advisors who can add value
- Balancing directness with others’ emotional needs (may unintentionally ‘run over’ people)
- Finds small talk exhausting
- Hates disappointing others and finds associated decisions draining
- Dislikes asking for help and may lose relationship capital from unequal exchanges
- Thinks they should be able to change people or that they are doing something wrong because a person is not changing.
- May rely on logic to resolve emotional arguments (Hint: This doesn’t work.)
ORGANIZATIONAL STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES
STRENGTHS
- Excellent at seeing gaps in vision
- Able to identify system inefficiencies
- Seeks progress; hates stagnation
- Values organizational success over ego
- Stressed by political maneuvering that drains energy or detracts from optimal outcomes
- Focuses on innovation and growth
- Fueled by strategic thinking; drained by operational tedium
Why are we having the same conversation again? This could have been an email. What a waste of time. Oh, I need to smile. I’m dying slowly inside.
CHALLENGES
- Frustration when others can’t execute on vision
- Others don’t follow conceptual leaps, resulting in communication gaps.
- Impatience with implementation delays
- Difficulty delegating when others don’t meet standards
- Overestimating team members’ capabilities or understanding
- Creating strategies that may be too advanced for the organization’s current state
- Balancing desire for excellence with pragmatic timelines
- Finding advisors and board members who add value
- Managing the tension between innovation and operational stability
- Experiencing isolation at the top of the organization
- Frustrated with employee incompetence
- Struggles with determining reasonable expectations
THE HIGH ACHIEVER DESIRES
- To feel understood
- Specific tools and strategies
- To not feel alone
- To be respected
- Results
- Progress
- To feel confident about decisions
- Meaning and fulfillment
- To be authentic
- Confidence
- Peace and reconciliation within oneself
Origin of High Achiever Profile Characteristics
You may be very successful and not resonate with these high achiever personality traits. The list of high achiever personality traits was derived from a qualitative research framework which included surveying clients and reverse-engineering their outcomes. Over time, specializing in this subset of leaders has allowed Dr. Groff to predict difficulties, reinforce strengths, and provide information that is tailored to this subset of leaders. If you are a high achiever, the path can be hard. You may have difficulty finding “your people.” Hang in there. In your uniqueness, you also have the capacity for greatness.
Am I Normal?
“I often wonder if I’m getting it right. I think I’m right, but maybe I’m the crazy one.”
THE MAN IN THE ARENA
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – T. Roosevelt
The Shadow Side of a High Achieving Mindset
Many High Achievers are hard on themselves when they encounter an area of “weakness.” Carl Jung was a psychoanalyst who use the term “shadow side” to describe the parts of people’s personalities that they try to repress compared to those aspects of which a person is consciously aware. While Jung used the term to focus on subconscious areas of personality, I’ve borrowed and repurposed it to represent the flip side of our strengths.
The shadow side exists because of strength.
Most strengths have a cost attached, a shadow side if you will. For example, a generous High Achiever may struggle with setting boundaries about how much to give others. Alternately, a High Achiever who wants to see the best in people may have difficulty knowing when to fire an employee. High Achievers who are very responsible may take responsibility for things that are outside of their control. Finally, the High Achievers with high standards of execution may have difficulty recognizing what “good enough” looks like, for both themselves and for others.
High Achievers can reframe their perception of weaknesses by assessing their strengths.
High Achievers can learn to give themselves grace if they are able to identify the strengths that are associated with areas of struggle. This identification often reduces feelings of failure and shame because the shadow side is linked to strength. It’s a ‘side effect’ of strength rather than a separate area of deficit.
High Achievers can begin reframing perceived weaknesses by making a list.
High Achievers can gain insight by making a list of their “weaknesses.” After they’ve made the list, they can think about whether those “weaknesses” are a byproduct or linked to areas of strength. The linkage to strength allows High Achievers to focus on and celebrate the upside while continuing to grow in their skills at managing the shadow side.
Responsible - A Double Edged Sword
One of the best characteristics of High Achievers is their high integrity. They take responsibility for their actions and outcomes. This trait helps them develop strong relationships and a good reputation. At the same time, it can create emotional difficulty because High Achievers tend to take responsibility for things that are not their fault. The tendency to take all blame on themselves creates an emotional drain and can also inhibit problem-solving. A solution to help sort through the variables that contribute to less than desirable outcomes is to draw a pie and assign the responsibility across multiple variables. This visual representation provides a more accurate view of what they need to change versus relationships that may need to change or situational variables that were outside their control.
Profiles of High Achiever Clients
(Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Innocent)
ANGIE is a founder and owner of several companies. She is a visionary who builds and creates. As a human, she is warm, honest, and unwilling to settle for the status quo in any facet of life. She leads with both intellect and passion, always seeking to empower others’ success.
JOHN is the owner of a rapidly growing business that is in the teenage phase. He is funny, easy-going, and whip-smart. John is strong-minded and open-minded, so he’ll consider new paths if the argument is solid. He continuously strives for business and personal excellence.
KYLE is a founder and executive of a VC backed company that is rapidly expanding its territory. He quickly implements new strategies, and he embodies the commitment to whole-person excellence. Kyle sometimes spices up a serious conversation with sarcasm that leaves one laughing for hours.
BRENT is a specialist and leader in the health industry. He is brilliantly logical and prefers any explanation of human behavior to be translated into a flowchart with supporting rationale and applicable examples. Brent is funny, willing to tolerate extreme discomfort, and remains uncompromising in his dedication to excellence.
AL is a C-suite executive who synthesizes information at the speed of light and is an early adopter of all good ideas. He is an amazing human, who seeks peak performance in himself and his team. He works hard to balance high expectations with compassion and flexibility.
Lisa is a senior executive in a company that innovates at warp speed. She sees connections and patterns that others don’t see; so she constantly works to contain chaos without slowing the growth. Her dedication to excellence in unrelenting, which usually means that she’s hard on herself.
Related Services
Whole-Person Executive Coaching focuses on the multi-faceted areas of wellness, business growth, and peak performance for High Achievers. Each person is already fantastic, and so the work is collaborative and synergistic. High Achievers who work with me 1:1 also have priority for any organizational offerings.