While the stories of Henry’s disappointments had been tough to write, Brianna had really learned a lot from these. These would be on her memory bank when she eventually succeeded Henry. Her final story was of Tracy.
When Tracy came to the foundation, he was a challenge. He was a very spontaneous young many and would drive Henry and others crazy by what seemed to be reckless acts. But those acts almost always led to beneficial results. Creativity was clearly Tracy’s talent.
Tracy went on to get a college degree and became known for his ingenious advertisement campaigns in the marketing firm where he began his career. It didn’t take long for the firm to become one of the top three firms in America.
Tracy was promoted to a team leader. This was a position where he struggled. Tracy just couldn’t transfer his creative ad sense to his team. As a result, Tracy ended up contributing most of the original ideas. The senior leaders praised Tracy’s team for its work, not realizing that it was Tracy’s work. Tracy was again promoted where his span of control increased. Unfortunately he could no longer take an active role in the creation of the advertising campaign. The effectiveness of the advertisements declined remarkably.
Tracy was under a lot of pressure to reestablish the firm’s reputation. This reveals a loss of his spontaneity and creativity. The firm’s reputation spiraled downward and Tracy was fired. He was wealthy enough to withdraw from society. He had lost his talent.
As Brianna thought about Tracy’s situation, she had two insights. First, those with talent need to be able to develop that talent in others. She also realized that those with certain talents may need to decide whether they want to pursue positions of prestige and influence when those positions will limit the continued use and development of their talent.
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“The fullest use of one’s talent is sharing and developing that talent in others.”
– Anonymous