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The Id: Satisfying Our Personal Desires

Getting to the top and staying there entail far different personality traits. While the climb to the top takes more of an aggressive, focused and at times self serving personality, staying on top entails someone that is more of a diplomat and statesman.

Allow us to first consider some of the traits you will need to master to get to the top – fast. Consistent with Freud's theory, the following is not a definitive checklist to get to the top; it is simply a set of forces that will drive you to victory.

Be Passionate

Having a passion for something is essential to getting the job done and knowing what the job in question is. Otherwise, the project lingers on and the goal remains unrealized. More important, you find yourself asking where time flew by. Passion is the seed of victory.

Speculate

Take risks, be bold and do not be shy to get cut and bruised. Perhaps no one took a better risk than Tony Hawk. The skateboarder was leaps and bounds above his peers. He was the Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky or Michael Jordan of skateboarding. He knew that to bring his sport to the next level, he had to take his game to the next level. And he did at every chance he got. Tony Hawk flew so high for so long that it is impossible not to think of the Flight of Icarus. According to Greek Mythology, Icarus was the son of Daedalus. Daedalus had made artificial wings for his son. As Icarus escaped from Crete, he flew so close to the sun that the wax with which his wings were fastened melted and he plummeted into the Aegean Sea. Legend notwithstanding, Tony Hawk became the superstar of his sport because he dared to fly so high. The risk and danger of falling into the sea, or crashing into the ramp should be taken but it should not be the driving force in your career. If it is this fear that drives you, then take the appropriate risk level that you are comfortable with to lead a balanced life.

Another man spoken of in the same breath as Icarus was Cisco Systems CEO, John Chambers. For the most part of the 1990s, Chambers, a former consultant, led San Jose-based Cisco Systems to the peak of the high-tech world, sitting for a brief moment atop the list of the world's most valuable firms, ranked by market capitalization. Market capitalization is equal to the number of shares outstanding times the share price. On that memorable day, what stock markets around the world were saying was that Cisco's future looked brighter than Microsoft's. Cisco weighed in at $555.4 billion, Microsoft closed with a value of $541.6 billion. Microsoft was king of software and computing, whereas Cisco was king of networks and the Web's infrastructure.

Did this last? Of course not. What ensued after April 2000 was a flight to quality. Not only was Cisco not the world's most valuable company, neither was Microsoft, the undisputed champion of the latter 1990s. Both slipped below that blue-chip icon of diversified American corporations, General Electric.

Over the following quarters Cisco Systems slipped precipitously in market capitalization and Microsoft leveled off. Thereafter, many shareholders, critics and analysts openly questioned Chambers' strategy. They had cheered when he raised the stock price by 40,000%. Did they forget that with increased return comes risk? They must have. A partner at venture investment company Sequoia Capital put it best, "it's not an easy call to go from 100 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour."

The lesson: never look back even though others will. If you choose a plan of action, understand the stakes. The higher the stakes, the higher you fly and the harder you fall. But without the flight, there is no escape.

Be Ambitious

Keyshawn Johnson was the 1996 first overall pick in the National Football League (NFL) by the New York Jets out of the University of Southern California Trojans. Keyshawn was expected to be the key player in the offense. While wide receivers do better when they have another solid receiver to keep the defense busy, Keyshawn did not share this perspective when teammate Wayne Chrebet was lining up alongside him.

Keyshawn felt the need to offer his perspective in a very public way after his rookie year. He went on to write a book called Just Give Me the Damn Ball.

This is not a knock against Keyshawn writing the book, although he showed reckless disregard for teammates, coaches and the media. He knew the latter would eat it up. After failing to prove himself and getting the ball in New York, Keyshawn ended up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The lesson is that as great as ambition is, you cannot wear it on your sleeve. In other words, even if you are thinking about a promotion, do not show more excitement for your next job than you do for your current one.

Be Impatient

The best thing to do is pace yourself. That being said, sitting there and pontificating over trends, projections, aspirations and potential outcomes will not get the job done. People that want things done yesterday get quite a bit done before you get out of bed. True, they may make some mistakes, but overall, they are ahead of the eight ball.

Think Of Yourself

Raymond Bourque ranks amongst the top players in the National Hockey League's (NHL) history. He broke into the league with the Boston Bruins, drafted 8th overall in 1979. He won the Norris trophy as the league's top defenseman five times. When he retired, he was the all-time leader for points and assists by a defenseman. He was the MVP of the all-star game in 1996 and was a 12-time first team All-Star.

But these were empty accomplishments until the 2000 season. After years of playing competitive hockey, the Boston Bruins were at the bottom of their division in the late 1990s. Despite his dream of winning the Stanley Cup, Bourque's loyalty to the Bruins and the city of Boston did not flinch. But in the second half of the 1999 season, Bourque was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. In 2000, he finally hoisted the Stanley Cup and capped off a truly remarkable career. No one is going to tell you to ditch your team to be part of a winner. You’d be a loser to ditch your teammates. But Bourque would not have been any less of a class act had he decided to put his own interests on top, especially given that Bruins management did not want to invest in building a winner. And while the following may sound ridiculous to some, it is not all that crazy after all. Some would argue that Bruins General Manager Harry Sinden traded Bourque away to let him play with a Cup contender. But it is not false to assume that Sinden traded Bourque away to salvage his salary. The same way that the Bruins were notorious for being selfish, Bourque should have done the same.

Be Quick Or Be Dead

One of the most respected and criticized individuals in business is Amazon's CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos. Bezos went all out to build Amazon at a steep price. Moreover, not everything was done as well as it could have been. Bezos was more interested in moving fast and fixing small mistakes later. Across the web, eBay CEO Meg Whitman also had something to say about speed: when you are down, act quickly so you do not find yourself out. Another example was Steve Case of AOL, who often said that managing the company was like trying to change a jet engine at high altitude and speed.

Blitz

As important as it is to focus on one task at a time, the most impressive attacks are outright blitzes. Blitzkrieg or lightning war is why Adolf Hitler took out France so easily in World War II. Study your enemy, understand the scope of their weaknesses, size up your strengths and blitz.

Be Driven – Better Yet, Drive!

Talking is part of the equation; you need to walk the walk and show action. Being a passenger means getting a view of the scenery, but it seldom means you get to go where you want.

Pride

Imagine that the answer to one of three questions at the start of this chapter was you. Yes you. Now, what is the question? The one about who finished second at the sporting events.

If you finish second, then congratulations. You must be tough as nails.

However, you should be asking yourself why you did not finish first. And if you do not care to ask yourself this question, then get yourself a coach, professor, mentor or partner that will.

Block The Noise Out

You may recall Luis Figo who left FC Barcelona to join rival Real Madrid. Upon his return to FC Barcelona in a Real Madrid uniform, Figo was pelted with everything from phones, fruits and bottles. Despite this, his play did not suffer.

Vince Lombardi must have been thinking ahead when he said: "Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind - you could call it character in action."

Stick To Your Guns

Remy Shand hails from a ''hotbed'' of soul, Winnipeg, Manitoba. All right, maybe Winnipeg is as much of a hotbed of soul music as Corpus Christi, Texas, is a hotbed of hockey. Hockey defenseman Brian Leetch was born in the town on the border of Texas and Mexico. Despite that fact, Leetch made his way to the National Hockey League (NHL) and won a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers. As much as Leetch came from unorthodox roots to play hockey, Remy Shand may be even more of an enigma. Shand grew up listening to great influences such as soul artists Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding. By the time he was in his late teens, he had mastered many instruments and even penned some tunes. With his skills and songs, Shand was confident in getting a record deal. But his background and look did not help his quest. Even record executives who cared to give him a chance were not convinced enough to grant him a deal.

After years of sitting on his tunes and perfecting his skills, Shand had the opportunity of a lifetime come his way. He met and hooked up with Motown President Kedar Massenburg. Not only did he realize his dream; he was entrusted with the creative input he sought. When his album was released in 2002, the credits read "Written, Produced, Arranged, Performed and Mixed by Remy Shand". Massenburg was also instrumental in the careers of India.Arie and Erykah Badu.

The lesson is that Shand did not get such an opportunity by chance. He got it thanks to his skills, his writing and his confidence. When his first single played on the radio, no one cared what his skin color was or where he hailed from. All that mattered was that Remy kept the music going and the people moving.

Years before, Sylvester Stallone stuck to his guns and held out for the right deal for his now-classic boxing movie, Rocky. Not only did he write and act in the movie, he also retained the rights and reaped a substantial financial windfall.

Confidence Versus Arrogance

Hubris has killed many people. Thinking that you can do no wrong or thinking that no one can steal your thunder will lead to your downfall. Indeed only the paranoid survive, so expect to be unseated if you wish to keep the throne.

More on Sigmund Freud's Id, Ego and Superego Division of Mind theory.