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Glenn Mattson
Welcome back to another episode of Building Blocks of Success. I'm your host, Glenn Mattson. In today's episode, which is season three, episode nine, we're going to challenge a common belief that we have ingrained in our society, the notion that success is solely dependent upon your academic achievements and the prestigious degree that you have. We all know that you get A's, you're going to do better in life when you get C's. Not so sure. We've also been told an awful lot of things about where we go to school and the importance of the colleges that we pick.
Glenn Mattson
Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of really working with over 15,000 entrepreneurs, and business leaders are who really shattered this this myth. And let me explain what I mean. Many of them were not straight A students in school, in fact, many were considered C students, I have a handful that even dropped out of school. But many of them did struggle academically, not all, but it was more common than you think. So here's an interesting situation that we can take a look at. If that's true, then how did they achieve success in their fields? I mean, how did they really knock the cover off the ball if they were not the smartest tool in the tool shed?
Glenn Mattson
Here's an interesting fact that may surprise you just a little bit. According to a study published in the Harvard Business Review, there's no direct correlation between academic grades and entrepreneurial success. Let me give that to you again. There's no connection between academic grades and entrepreneurial success. Let me give you some other numbers that may blow you away. And this is really something that you may want to take a look at. It's not something I typically like to share with my kids, right. But in October 2017 an article was written out that gave these statistics. And the statistics will turn around and tell you this 41% of self-made millionaires, these are people who made on their own. Now there's some families that have that person, there's some families that make, you know all the kids do pretty well. And there's many families that don't, but I want to share with you that self-made millionaires 41% of those are B students, not A's.
Glenn Mattson
Here's another staggering number that may throw you for a loop. 29% of all self-made millionaires were C students. 41% were B 29% were C. That's a ton. A ton. You realize that 21%, 21% of Self-made millionaires were actually A students. So 41% were B, 29% were A, right. 29% were C students and 21% were A students. And by the way, here's another crazy statistic that you may want to take a look at. 59.8% of self-made millionaires are from blue or middle class America, middle class families. The Bureau of Statistics will tell you this labor statistics the reputation of your alma mater does not translate directly into higher wages or success. Hmm. That's interesting.
Glenn Mattson
So when we look at this, how come the school you went to? I mean, if you went to turn to someone and said, you know, if you go to Penn, you go to, you know, Harvard, you go to Yale, you go to other schools, your state school, basically saying is, is that no matter where you go to school, that does not determine your level of success.
Glenn Mattson
CNBC did a survey that showed the majority of independent small business owners are without a four-year degree for goodness sakes. And those without a four-year degree outnumbered those with a bachelor degree or even higher in both genders in every age group, in every age group. So that there are small business owners and they not even done a four-year college, they're doing exceptionally well. So what sets them apart? What separates these individuals? Yeah, we've talked about stuff like, you know, in the past, I've talked to you about vision. I've talked about setbacks, challenges and roadblocks. I talked about failure and no fences, and why not me and those are some other podcasts that we did that really separates the mediocrity from those that choose to be great. There's about nine of them, we went through those.
Glenn Mattson
But today, I want to spend more of a time on the application of the knowledge is key. Your ability to drive, to take action, your ability to connect with people that truly determine your success. Carnegie an entrepreneurial said that, the Carnegie Institute of Technology will turn around and say 85% of your financial success comes from your people skills. 85% of your financial success comes from your people skills and only 15% of your financial success comes from your technical knowledge.
Glenn Mattson
Look I can go through client after client after client. That was not the tool, the quickest tool in the tool shed, but they're doing great. I mean, Sarah young, entrepreneurial, she didn't excel academically, but she possessed an unwavering determination to make her mark in the business world. You know, when a lot of our clients were studying or going out and having fun, right, a lot of her classmates, she was immersed in the real-world experiences. She was running two businesses during college, she gained hands on knowledge, she had the ability to really manage her time. Have the ability to still do pretty well in school, not great, she got C's, but she ran two different businesses. So she didn't really rely solely on her grades or where she went to school. But her ability to have honed her people skills, her networking, her ability to talk to individuals, her ability to have conversations, deal with conflict, organize herself, be on time, organize time, be organized herself, and execute. She had the ability of all these great skills and one of the things that she built over time was a very strong reputation for her experience, but also for her ability to connect with people and have conversations. So she was a purple unicorn in her world.
Glenn Mattson
The truth is team success is not reserved for those individuals with a long list of degrees or academic accolades, right. It's about having grit, resiliency, determination, to work hard, to get back up, to constantly apply what you've learned. Success is accumulation of skills, mindset and the ability to adapt and to seize opportunities.
Glenn Mattson
You know, I gave you a lot of stats, right? 85% of financial success comes from people skills, that's from Carnegie. Well, Gallup will tell you that 85% of successful entrepreneurs believe in soft skills. They believe 85% of successful entrepreneurs believe that soft skills such as communication, networking, asking the right types of questions, building relationships, building trust with other individuals are much more important than technical knowledge. It's the ability to connect with people and understand their needs. That really gives you the ability to provide value. That really sets you apart from everybody else. But let me tell you how many companies I've been into and the smartest people the people have the greatest depth of product knowledge, are not necessarily, almost never, the most successful people. Now, it doesn't mean that successful people don't know their stuff, doesn't mean that they could be not the smartest tool in the tool shed in that group. Doesn't mean that academic knowledge is irrelevant. It serves a foundation, it gives you confidence, it gives you background, so don't get me wrong. However, in its practical application, and the continuous pursuit of growth in what drives success, most accomplished entrepreneurs understand the importance that you get from experience. But it's the entrepreneurs are also looking for someone who has the ability to communicate, has the ability to follow through, has the ability to do other things than just be book smart. Part of the issue about being just book smart, statistics will tell you that many of those individuals have really never failed dramatically. And if you look at a C or a B student, they fail, and then they succeed, and then they fail and they struggle, etc. Then they put the time in and the energy in.
Glenn Mattson
So you may be wondering yourself, how can I embrace this mindset and excel in my own entrepreneurial journey? So I want to give you some tips that have worked for me that hopefully can work for you. And this is for everybody that's out there that is saying to themselves that one of the areas I have to get better at is my people skills. Especially in today's world with AI, having the ability to be the smartest person, having the ability to retain knowledge, having the ability to recall knowledge, having the ability to do many of those things, is not as important as it used to be because of AI and where it's going. It comes back down to again, people skills. So let me give you some tips. Okay, these are some tips that I've used in the past that I know have worked. Me personally, I'm an introvert by nature, I would prefer not to socialize, I would prefer not to talk to people. Yes, I do get energy talking with others, but at the end of the day, given a choice, I prefer to be by myself.
Glenn Mattson
So let me give you some things that I have done to force myself to be a successfully extrovert without being a pain in the catookish. So here they are, number one, you got to focus in on your developing your people skills. This is the ability to connect, communicate, build relationships, which is vital in business. Some of the things you can do is attend networking events, join industry associations, you got to seek out opportunities for you to interact with other professionals from various backgrounds. Let me say it again, you got to find opportunities for you to interact with professionals from various different backgrounds. Remember, practice, practice, practice.
Glenn Mattson
All relationships really have four stages, right? The first stage is awareness just like if you met a neighbor that you've never seen before, right? They just moved in. You're gonna be aware of who they are, you're going to be understanding that they have children, you look at the cars they drive, right so you have some awareness but then it goes to familiar. Familiar is you know them; you know their first names. You get to have some background because you met them at a neighborhood party, for instance. But then you go to friends and friends is really about, you're doing things with the individual. You're at a different level of sharing, at a different level of trust from familiar to friends. And then the fourth stage of a relationship is you're part of their story. That you're inside the inner circle. If they had a problem was two o'clock in the morning, they wouldn't mind calling, having a phone call with you, right. So really focus on developing your people skills. And those four levels are important in your work.
Glenn Mattson
You also need to understand about bonding and rapport a little bit, you got to understand that, you know, 7% of what you say connects with people. 38% of how you say it connects with people, and 55% of how you act, how you look, when you say it, how you roll your eyes, how your hands are, I guess, stand all those things. 55% of that, your nonverbal clues, is about developing relationships. 38% is what you said. So your mother and your father are always right. It's not what you said, it's how you said it. So start to practice and practice as much as you possibly can on how to build up people skills. And we're going to spend a lot more podcasts on how to do that in the future. But remember, your connect questions we've talked about this in the past and typically, there's things like the industry then the market then the company. You can also talk about things like form, right, which is the family, then what are some of the occupational things that they have and what are some of the things they do for recreation. So there's these little acronyms that we could use to help, but develop your people skills. If you're younger, for the love of goodness, just get rid of a phone and start talking to your friends. Start talking to people you don't even know in the store, say hello to people, start to have the process of breaking down your own barriers on developing your people skills.
Glenn Mattson
So step one or tip one is people skills. So another tip is really embrace a lifelong learning. And I'm going to share with you I typically read two books a month for many, many, many, many years. So that when I have conversations with individuals, and they're reading a book, I can connect with them. If not, if we're talking about a topic, I can turn around and say, you know, I was just reading this book called blank and one of the things that was saying was, X, and I can connect it to their conversation. So tip number two is embrace a lifelong learning. Continuously seek out new knowledge and skills that will enhance your business acumen. Read books, attend seminars, listen to your podcasts like this one, right? Engage in online courses, like Sandler Online and all the great things that you can find there. But it's a lifeline journey. And most of us just learn enough to be where we need to be, but don't want to learn more. So constantly learn, constantly have that edge, constantly even maybe you'll be able to be a source of information for others. So step two is embrace lifelong learning.
Glenn Mattson
Step three, or tip three, I would say active listening and we've talked about this before is insanely powerful when we're talking about developing people skills. So active listening, as you know, we've talked about this, you can give back words as parody, you can give back what you thought they intended to say, paraphrasing. You can get back what you think they felt, right. So there's really three different ways to do active listening. And again, I did a whole podcast on this. So if you want to go listen to that. One of them tells you how to do it, and the best way to do it and etc. But you got to understand active listening increases trust and bonding by 60%; 60%. You gotta remember people want to be heard and they want to be understood. Active listening hits both of those. It tells them that you heard the individual and it tells the individual I hear where you're coming from and I understand you. Doesn't mean you have to agree with them, but active listening is really important.
Glenn Mattson
Here's Tip Four. Tip Four is taking a look at what we call a list of opportunities for you to do it's called the three-foot rule. And the three-foot rule is really about any within three feet of you on a social level, gas stations, grocery stores, in the mall, walking your dogs, doesn't make a difference, is if you're within three feet of someone, start a conversation. Start a conversation, break some ice, start. It's amazing on what will happen. And it the reason this is so neat, I practiced it at gas stations in the beginning, because you're only going to pump your gas for what two minutes and they're gone. So if you try to do some small talk and it doesn't come out right, it's not going to end the world because they're gone in two minutes. So if you really want to start getting people skills down, you got to practice and you got to practice quite a bit to get your skills up. So your tip is develop that and focus on your people skills, have insane curiosity, make sure that you constantly learn so you can stay on top of topics and things to discuss or add value to. Make sure that you're very successful at your active listening. And think about from where you sit, that three-foot rule. That three-foot rule is really, really powerful. And it's something I used for many years that's helped me start conversations with people I didn't really want to talk to, I felt super uncomfortable with it, but there's only one way to get better at this, which is really a ton of practice. And now, when I see someone I don't know, to me, they're just a friend that I haven't gotten to meet yet. And if you ask my family and my kids, they’re rolling their eyes on oh my gosh, dad will start up a conversation with anybody.
Glenn Mattson
So taking a look at your people skills is something that you can develop over time. As we wrap up today's episode, let's challenge the belief that high grades and prestigious degrees are really the only indicators of success, we got to recognize the importance of hard work, consistency and application of your knowledge was really what makes entrepreneurs successful. It's the people skills also that add to that that are incredibly important. So knowing what to do and how to do it is important. Having the ability to communicate it effectively, deal with the roadblocks, get people to buy into it and deal with any failures or excuses on the way to ensure execution is about people skills, not necessarily knowledge. So enjoy this as we wrap up and move forward. The success how it relates to you is not necessarily in degrees, air quotes, but actually in your people skills. Talk to you soon.
Glenn Mattson
This is the Building Blocks of Success with Glenn Mattson.
