BarroMetrics Views: 10Xers
In ‘Great By Choice’, Jim Collins identifies ‘10Xers’ i.e. entrepreneurs who built “enterprises that beat their industry’s averages by at least 10 times”. He found that 10Xers shared certain characteristics. While I have not done formal research, based on my experience, I’d say the same qualities would be found among ’super traders’. Any trader would benefit should he actively seek to inculcate the traits.
Collins found two common values and three common behaviours.
Values
Accountability: 10Xers accept that the future is uncertain and there are forces beyond their control. BUT they also hold that they alone are responsible for their success or failure - not ‘luck, not chaos or any other external factor’.
Passion and Focus: The motivating force is their ‘passion and ambition for a cause or company that is larger than themselves’.
Behaviours
Fanatic Discipline: 10Xers show ‘consistency of action’ with their values, goals, performance standards and methods. To quote: “They are utterly relentless, monomaniacal, unbending in their focus on their quest’.
By the way, in the courses I run, I start with VISION, Goals and Review. It’s great that I see confirmation of my approach. The sad thing is this: this part of the course tends to be honoured by the students by non-performance. They prefer to focus on the plan and risk management.
Emperical Creativity: 10Xers respond to uncertainty by testing new ideas. They use direct observation backed by experimentation that results in evidentiary feedback. In trading, the ultimate quantitative feedback comes from the stats derived from your trading; and the qualitative feedback from your psych journal.
Productive Paranoia: (To quote): “10Xers … stay highly attuned to…changes in their environment, even when - especially when - all’s going well……They channel their fear….into action, preparing…contingency plans… and building large margins of safety”.
For traders, one way of emulating this is to prepare and mentally rehearse different scenarios so that when the market responds they won’t be caught unawares.
One thing this book has again driven home: the more I study and read, the more evidence I have that success has a generic process that transcends time and subject matter.
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
