I was wondering what makes some people successful, and others not. Of course, passion and doing something meaningful is very important. But that’s not all. First of all, let’s define success. If you’ve found a cure from cancer is it a success? Well, yes. But if you are living on a small island with no human beings other than you does it count? If your creation doesn’t serve anyone is it a success? Getting harder… Now let’s say there are people on that island, but you can’t speak their language. Even though you have created something valuable you aren’t able to share it. Is it a success? Not so easy to tell, right? So, along with creating something valuable, it is important to be able to communicate about it. And this is what we’ll try to reason about in this article.
The article is written from the perspective of a software engineer, but it’s not limited only to that domain.
Measurement
As Peter Drucker said - “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”. So we need to agree on measurement. There are numerous metrics we can choose from, like impact, pleasure from work and so on. But metrics like that aren’t very helpful. We need something more precise. And what metric can be better for the corporate domain in our cold-hearted capitalistic world than compensation level? If one earns more than his craft is higher.
Getting to the point with an example
For illustration purposes, two of my good friends will be used. Both of them are skilled software engineers with the same number of years of experience behind them. They work for the same company. Both awesome guys. Just one interesting thing - their salaries differ by a factor of 2. What can be so fundamentally different that can result in such significant compensation contrast for the same field? Anyone who knows them well enough will say - communication skills. When at a party and between mates both behave easily, freely and openly. But in a corporate environment, one of them has a quiet voice. Most of the time too quiet. Another has a loud one. Sometimes too loud. Running a bit ahead I’ll reveal where I’m going to with this - performance. Acting. Acting mastery is the reason for salary differences. Before tomatoes are thrown I dare to ask you to give me a chance to justify it.
Justification
Just think about it - a lot of political important people have been actors in the past. Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States Of America is a former Holywood actor. Same with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who doesn’t need any introductions. Volodymyr Zelenskuy - 6th president of Ukraine is a famous comedian and actor :). The list can go on and on. Also, a lot of sports stars become politicians too.
In a company I used to work at I witnessed an interesting situation. The company has been searching for a software engineer. There was a vacancy that required a high technical knowledge level. There was one candidate in particular. The candidate lacked experience for that position, but the recruiter still tried to push him through. What was her explanation? Simply “but he is very interesting personality”. We are here not to judge recruiter, but to learn a lesson from it. Humans are highly social creatures. Because of that mood conveys very easily within a group of people. So having a power of choice between introducing “an interesting personality” or “a boring one” what would you do? Who would you bring into the team knowing that at the end of the day it will inevitably affect your mood? Environment matters. Something to point out here - it is not necessarily a conscious decision. More like an instinct. But it would be rationalized in a very witty way by your mind. That is the reality.
A section for judas
But you can say - content is more important than the form. Or - Ideas inside the book are the things that make the book valuable, not the cover picture. Or that - the true beauty of a person can be found only within, not outside. If you still think so then look at this TEDx Talk.
Think about Art. Let’s take painting for example. Of course, you know that artists write paintings, not, umm, paint them, right? Every painting implies some idea. Usually, it’s important, but not very verbose. So why make so much of efforts on a form to send some simple (but important) message?
Form significance applicable to any kind of communication. Even to this article. If it wouldn’t contain at least some style, rhythm, maybe a joke here and there - would you still be reading it? Of course form, cover, looks aren’t everything. But usually, it is the first thing that matters. Some people say that work should speak for itself. That is a truly nice and noble thing to say. Only one problem - the world doesn’t fucking work this way. One must give credit to soft skills. To the value of presenting yourself. To marketing of yourself. One should at least try. You know as they say - fake orgasm is better than nothing.