The Success Factor (ft. Ruth Gotian)

The Success Factor (ft. Ruth Gotian)

What makes astronauts and athletes so successful— and how you can unlock that same power

OPENING QUOTE:

“That clearly was not my calling. Clearly, I was not passionate about it. And that was really my first inkling that you can be good at something and not enjoy it. And that's okay.”

- Ruth Gotian

GUEST BIO:

Ruth Gotian is the Chief Learning Officer, Assistant Professor of Education in anesthesiology, and former Executive Director of the mentoring academy at Weill Cornell Medicine. After starting her career in university residency management at NY State and Cornell, she took a brief foray into international banking before moving into academic medical administration. She’s led the transformation of learning and development for thousands of students during her 26 years at Weill Cornell. During this period, Ruth earned her PhD in Education from Columbia. She now studies what makes people successful high-performers so she can help others do the same.

Ruth’s book, The Success Factor, covers this very topic— as do her writings in popular journals such as Nature, Scientific American, Psychology Today, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review. She’s recognized on the Thinkers50 Radar List, arguably the most prestigious honor for management thinkers.

CORE TOPICS + DETAILS:

[3:05] - “Do Something Important, Not Just Interesting”

Transformative words from a mentor

After decades of witnessing a lack of progress on pervasive problems, a mentor told Ruth: “Do something important, not just interesting.” This inspired Ruth to begin pursuing the qualitative idea of what drives great achievers to achieve their greatest.

[13:41] - Embracing Collaboration

From finance to academia

Ruth speaks fondly of the collaborative mindset that defines academia. There’s less of a dog-eat-dog mentally than there is in other industries. Instead, many people recognize that the more we work together, the more our efforts will be duplicated and expanded upon in creative ways, leading to greater progress for ourselves and others.

[28:08] - Protective of Your Passions

Embracing your desire to do work you care about

Ruth has often approached highly respected scientists and researchers, including Nobel Prize winners, about taking on dean roles. The most common response? “No, thank you. I’m happy in the lab.” It can be easy to fall into the trap of accepting every ‘promotion’ or step up that comes along. But if it’s a step away from what you love, then is it really a step up?

[38:10] - The Four Traits of High Achievers

From Olympians to astronauts

In Ruth’s research, and her book The Success Factor, she’s found that nearly all high achievers have four main traits: they identify their passions, they strategize on how to achieve them, they build and reinforce a strong foundation, and they’re constantly learning— even through informal means. Now the question is: How can you tap into those traits within yourself, starting today?

[50:29] - The Importance of Mentorship

Finding the right ones with the right mindset

As powerful as a great mentor can be, a poor one can be equally damaging. Find mentors you gel with, with whom you can form strong relationships. Who will be willing to put in the time. These relationships can’t be forced, only built organically.

RESOURCES:

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ABOUT PERSPECTIVES FROM THE TOP:

Discover the secrets of success for you and your organization shared by the world’s leading thinkers, doers, and trailblazers. Join Chris Roebuck, Honorary Visiting Professor of transformational leadership, leader in military, business, and government, inspiring global keynote speaker, one of HR’s Most Influential Thinkers, bestselling author, and your host of Perspectives from the Top. The show reveals a treasure trove of insights from mega trends to practical strategies and actions to take your career up a gear. From government world shapers and business mold breakers to evidence driven academics and enthusiastic entrepreneurs, each episode shows you how you can immediately use these new ideas and actions to drive your success.

Learn more at: PerspectivesFromTheTop.com

ABOUT DETROIT PODCAST STUDIOS:

In Detroit, history was made when Barry Gordy opened Motown Records back in 1960. More than just discovering great talent, Gordy built a systematic approach to launching superstars. His rigorous processes, technology, and development methods were the secret sauce behind legendary acts such as The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.

As a nod to the past, Detroit Podcast Studios leverages modern versions of Motown’s processes to launch today’s most compelling podcasts. What Motown was to musical artists, Detroit Podcast Studios is to podcast artists today. With over 75 combined years of experience in content development, audio production, music scoring, storytelling, and digital marketing, Detroit Podcast Studios provides full-service development, training, and production capabilities to take podcasts from messy ideas to finely tuned hits. 

Here’s to making (podcast) history together.

Learn more at: DetroitPodcastStudios.com

ABOUT THE HOST:

Chris has shown over 21,000 leaders in over 1500 organizations globally how they can discover their secrets of success in a way that meets and beats their organizations specific challenges.

Chris has done this across sector, culture and geography - UBS, HSBC, KPMG & London Underground, legal firms to construction, tech and IT, to retail, facilities to scientific research, police to not for profit, pharmaceutical to SMEs. From the UK National Health Service of 1.4m staff and UK Government to the Red Cross in Myanmar, from Investment banks in London to Middle East Telecoms, from the Chinese Space Program leaders to HR Directors in India and global retail CEOs in Rome.

When he was the Global Head of Leadership at UBS, overseeing a staff of 70,000 across 100 countries, his team helped the bank transform organizational performance to increase profitability by 235%, market capitalization by 50% and win numerous awards. This is now a Harvard Case Study.

Chris has been quoted as a business leadership expert globally in the Harvard Business Review China, FT, Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, New York Times, Business Week, Time Magazine, Washington Post, Times of India, Straits & Gulf Times and many others. He judges business awards and has done over 350 TV interviews on leadership and business on BBC, Sky, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, CNBC & CNN. He’s also skied at 60mph by accident. 

Learn more about Chris at: ChrisRoebuck.Live

CREDITS: