Leadership Essentials: Leading Hyper Performers
Beyond high performers are the people who build best in class and first of its kind. Leading Hyper Performers requires an advanced understanding of foundational leadership concepts.
Friends ask me to come work for them. Clients try to fold me into their organization. I tell them both the same thing, “I like you way too much to do that to you.”
I am a nightmare to lead. If you run technical teams, you know how to lead high performers. Running a Data and Analytics organization or Advanced R&D Team, you have probably run into a few Hyper Performers (HPs).
I’m going to boast, I am sorry, so you can feel the mentality and intensity. It comes from a fear of boredom and deep insecurity. It comes from the elation of building something no one has ever built before and the accolades that follow. High performers are in the top 1% of value generators for the business. HPs are in the top 1% globally.
I have been on so many Top 10 Data Science Influencers lists over the last 6 years, I’m starting to resent the association. I’m building my own category and my own lists. My resume is several pages of Google search results. Fortune 100 companies bring me in to create best in class. I don’t always cite expert sources because when it comes to AI Strategy, D&A Organizational Leadership, and Applied Research, I am an expert source.
That’s the HP mentality and I am at the lowest end of the HP spectrum. I am the floor and it’s a high ceiling. When I hire HPs, they are more capable than me in every way. This forced me to redefine my leadership style and I am more capable across the board as a result.
Teams working to build mature capabilities need HPs to achieve their goals. You cannot manage a HP. Leadership at a high level is required.