“Changes that are not connected to process, don’t last”

I officially started working and earning a salary at the age of 19 as an Executive PA at an Asset Management company that my mother was a partner of together with Vernon Mwamuka, Sue Vera, and South Africa partners Lowenthal and Venter.  Working for a living was not entirely a novelty, 3 years earlier a vocal group that I had started with my friends Kudzai Sevenzo, Sakhile Sifelani and Marjorie Ngwenya had not only led us to be the brain-childrens of African Voices of Africa choir at Chisipite Senior School aka AVA but we had accepted a well remunerated gig by singing  at a wedding taking place at the Chisipite Senior School Chapel.  We had been spotted at one of the most popular events during the school calendar “Miss Chisi” in 1995/6.  It wasn’t long when the group split up to focus on our A’Level studies and at the time taking such activities more seriously than they needed to would result in a lifelong of disappointment and failed ambitions.  The only person who was determined and courageous to take the singing activity more seriously then and still at it in 2015, is Zimbabwean singing sensation Kudzai Sevenzo.   I went on to study Accounts and then 7 years later an MBA and worked briefly in various roles; I heard that Sakhile was a lawyer and personal advisor to Morgan Tsvangirai prior to the 2013 elections and Marjorie is working and residing in the UK after graduating in Actuarial Science. 

I chose to study Accounts because I was good at it.  I had obtained an A for O’Levels without really even trying.  I remember, when I came out of the exams and we were discussing how the exams went and the level of difficulty of the exam.  Mercy, my friend and classmate and myself, were considered the top Accounting students.  We didn’t share the same outcome as the others.  Both our Trial Balances and Balances Sheets had balanced but with different amounts.  So we started engaged in our own academic discussion, dissecting each problem, well, how we remembered the questions in the Exam to convince each other that the methodology we had adopted in recognizing Bad debts and Provisions for Bad debts made the difference in what number was posted to the Ledger accounts.  Either way we couldn’t figure out how both our ledgers ended up balancing despite of differing carrying amounts.  As it turn outs, we both ended up with an A for O’Level and we were the only ones who obtained that grade in our class.  So, where am I going with this?  I have watched TedX Youtube of Robert Greene: “Key to Transforming Yourself” who shares with us that changes that are not connected to process, don’t last.  I have read a summary article of “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance” by Psychologists Dr. Anders Ericsson and read a book by Dr. Cal Newport called “So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love,” a book that challenges the conventional wisdom that one must follow their passion in life if they want to be happy and successful.  Instead Dr. Newport states that “following your passion is bad advice” and one must be devoted to continuous learning but most importantly developing rare and valuable skills to acquire great jobs or to be successful.  He gives accounts of people he has interviewed overtime who followed their passion to acquire financial freedom versus those who had disciplined approached to becoming successful.  The common thread in Greene, Ericsson and Newport is Deliberate Practice also known as the 10,000 hour rule:

"Being successful isn’t just about 10,000 hours of doing the activity; it’s 10,000 hours of what Ericsson calls “deliberate practice.” According to the paper, “deliberate practice is a highly structured activity, the explicit goal of which is to improve performance. Work is where we exercise the skills we already have. Deliberate practice is not work and it's not play. At work, it is assumed that you’re bringing your best possible performance to satisfy the needs of a client or the organization...work involves using skills and talents you’ve already developed; the performance improvement from time spent at work is minimal compared to time spent in deliberate practice. That fact that you’ve managed a team for 10 years doesn’t automatically make you a world-class manager. Work isn’t deliberate practice.

…The goal of deliberate practice is improvement…When we’re in deliberate practice, activities that require total focus and are designed to stretch, we’re rarely enjoying ourselves. If you’re engaged in the activity for the fun of it, you’re probably not getting much better...If you are not engaged in deliberate practice then you are most definitely wasting your 10,000 hours.

It suddenly occurred to me the reason I had obtained an A for O’Level with quite little effort then was because I had been engaged in such an activity.  My decision to study Accounts was because I understood it not because I was passionate about it.  The real challenge came when I took Audit and Taxation Classes for undergrad.  Not only did I get lost in the legal terms but also in the process of when, why and how of Taxation under the GAAP system.  I never went on to do the CPA nor the CA.  The Audit and Tax element of the Accounting discipline throttled my interest.  But let's not also underestimate the impact of working full-time for bread and butter and to pay tuition fees plays in dividing my time to be able to focus on the discipline deeper. Thus, if I had been engaged in deliberate practice I would most probably acquired the professional qualification(s).    Instead, I changed my entire focus to understanding the Strategic Management discipline in my late 20s as a result of working in my mother’s consulting business since 2008.  However, my non-linear journey to acquiring career capital has exposed me to various skills and exposure to types of mindset.  I will reiterate only three key strategies Greene identifies:

1. Adopt an internally driven mindset - stop fixating on what people are saying or doing.  Focus on yourself internally.  Become stronger yourself.
2. Return to your primal inclinations – spark a childlike intense curiosity in your work.
3. Transform yourself through your work – enter a journey of deliberate practice. ‘Changes that are not connected to process; don’t last’ says Greene.  Job hopping is a result of doing following your passions instead of working right to acquire skills that are rare and valuable says Newport.

My journey to success has been a non-linear one.  After 3 months of series of interviews with a Swedish consulting PLC; I am down to my final interview with the Managing Director.  The Consulting role exhibits an accumulation of the skills that I have acquired in my various roles are unique and in alignment to this company’s strategy.  One of the Senior Directors said after my 45minute case presentation interview with a panel of 8 team members that included the MD: “we have been in the banking industry for a time and to see a presentation like this demonstrates that not only do you understand the key components but depth of analysis shows how curious you are.” I only had two/three questions from the panel and the MD was quite impressed with the presentation.

 

I have been engaged in a process of learning and continuous improvement for some time now and will continue to adopt an internally driven mindset.  Greene says “you will draw opportunities to you because people will sense how prepared you are.”  

Here’s to the organic process of self-improvement, no matter how laborious.