Yesterday's talent on today's LinkedIn

“Founder, Speaker, Executive Coach”

“Chief [of something important], Award-Winner, Advisor”

LinkedIn profiles are funny things.  Some profiles are built for potential employers, others are built for potential customers.  Some, I think are really built for the person writing them, declaring his or her success in life.  

One such former colleague has a particularly interesting profile.  My experience of him was mediocre.  He struggled to deliver the work asked of him and quit the firm shortly after we rolled him off the project.  Now, he’s an international expert, author and speaker.  Clearly, my past experience of him and his current self-declaration don’t match.  So what happened? 

By my thinking, there are a few possibilities.

One, he grew up.  He’s a different person than he was then and has found his niche, creating an environment for him to be highly successful.

Two, he’s lying.  He’s inflated his abilities well beyond his capability.  The person I knew then can’t do what he’s purporting to do, so he much be lying. 

Three, my experience of him was when he was not at his best.  He may have been performing below his capability then, but perhaps he’s more capable than I thought.

Which brings me to option four; I was wrong.   Maybe he really is as good at his job then as he is now, but I didn’t know it because I was so singularly focused on something else.  

I’ve followed this man’s story and believe the case here to be some combination of Options One, Three and Four.  I do not believe he’s lying.  I think he performed below his capability in a situation where we asked him to perform above his capability, causing him to rethink his work.  He then did the work to close the gap, grew up and found his groove.  I’m really glad for him.  In fact, I hope that I find the success he has found.  

Here’s the lesson for me: people change.  He grew up and I’m glad for him.