Are You a Rock Star?

What comes to mind when you hear that word “rock star”?

Popular yes, lots of  admirers and yes, really, incredibly good at what he/she does.

Nowadays this word rock star doesn’t only mean guitar toting, decibel breaking singing and raging. It also pertains to a caliber of the person in whatever field she belongs to. For example a lot of people are given titles such as rockstar managers like Jack Welch formerly of GE. They call Seth Godin as the rockstar of marketing. I saw a website celebrating the rockstars of blogging in the Philippines which I hope to belong to in the near future. I also noticed that a lot of recruiters here and other countries use the term rockstar to mean hard to find, really excellent, awesome talents and those who can catch them are also called rockstar recruiters.

What qualifies as a rockstar in any field? I’d say that the numero uno requirement is PASSION. Rockstars love what they are doing. They get a certain amount of high when they make breakthroughs in their crafts. I remember a rockstar programmer that I had the opportunity of working with in the past shout “I am invincible!” whenever he is able to complete a difficult program.  That girl was an important asset wherever she went and she commands a high price too! You can’t keep a rockstar talent if you can’t afford her because IT PAYS! to be a rockstar!

Rockstars put up an elaborate effort to improve on what they do. They are not just talented, they exploit their talents to the hilt by improving on them. They study and they learn new stuff. I remember Manny Pacquiao starting up as  “bara-bara ” brawler who possessed a really strong punch. He’d be beaten up badly before he gives a lucky punch that would fold the opponent.  He knew better than to depend on the strength and toughness of his fist so he trained to become one of the masters of the sweet science.

They are also self-driven and self-motivated pursuers of excellence. As a manager and trainer for a long time, I can dare say that no one can claim that a certain rockstar is a product solely of a particular development program.  In fact some of these rockstars I know shine amidst the most challenging  and scarcest situations. That’s because their own relentless desire to create, innovate and achieve something excellent is their main resource.

That brings me to ask these questions. Are you a rockstar or at the very least rockstar material?

Are you exceedingly passionate about what you do? Do you relentlessly pursue personal improvement and do you not let external limitations stop you from being the rocktar  that you are or wanna be? If you are, it will be just a matter of time when your star shines really brightly.