What Differentiates High Performers from Everyone Else?
It's not what you think.
What do you think of when you think about a high-performer?
You're probably thinking of someone who does good work, meets deadlines, has solid technical skills, and is always trying to improve. Maybe you're thinking of yourself. Maybe not. Either way you're probably not thinking of the true differentiator.
It's not advanced technical skills, it's social intelligence.
Technical skills aren't enough
It's great to have a solid technical background in whatever your craft is: analytics, data science, engineering, product management, etc.
But technical skills will only get you so far.
You can write the cleanest code, develop the most efficient algorithm, or manage the largest project, but if you cannot effectively work with people, you will hit a ceiling.
Once you have a base level of technical competency, your focus should shift to social intelligence.
High performers have high social intelligence
You can only make your highest impact if you can master social situations.
Social intelligence is how you do that.
You must know when to speak up and when to hold your tongue. When to delegate work and when to get your hands dirty. When to steer the ship and when to let others lead.
High performers know how to make these decisions because they know what other people need. They know if their boss needs work taken off their plate. They know that they need to build trust with others by giving up the reigns. They know if taking credit for a project will harm the ego of their peers.
High performers know how to navigate the social arena.
If you want to be a high performer, you should too.
"Navigating smoothly the social environment, we have more time and energy to focus on learning and acquiring skills. Success attained without this intelligence is not true mastery, and will not last. (Greene, 125)
References
Greene, Robert. 2012. Mastery. Penguin Books.