In my decades of experience in managing and coaching people, I can say, with confidence, that the hardest people to get results with are those who have “arrived.”

“Arrived” has an air about it that communicates that I don’t need to learn anything new because I already know it all. The funny thing is, I find this attitude is most prevalent in marginal performers.

Yet, I’ve also witnessed brilliant, successful people who can’t be bothered learning how they could improve because they don’t think they need improvement. I’ve literally watched geniuses defend personal behavior that a moron would recognize as detrimental and destructive.

Behavior behaves and the intellect justifies in the smart and not so smart. The mind, oftentimes, will attempt to convince you that you have arrived when, in fact, you have hardly begun.

My experience with “arrivers” also suggests that deep down they know they are pretending. Once their bombast calms down, they’re back at the drawing board crafting a new way to prop up their cardboard cutout with false bravado.

I’ve come to believe that the best strategy to help someone who has arrived is to help them retire the concept of “arrived.” Life is constant movement; there’s not a place called “Arrival” where you can put down roots. It’s like the electronics industry. The nifty gizmo you bought today is already obsolete in a research and development department somewhere, or on someone’s workspace in a basement, garage or kitchen counter.

People who know they haven’t arrived have tons of curiosity, no matter how successful they already are. If you have limited or no curiosity, you have “arrived” at a place called “Stuck.”

You can spend your time coming up with new defenses for your arrival or you can get curious about that which you know you don’t know.

Here’s the conundrum: If you think you’ve arrived, you haven’t. In fact, you never will.

And finally, here’s a recommendation I would like to drive home: I’m curious how soon you’ll put arrived in your rear view mirror?

All the best,

John