One of the most valuable things I have learned about myself as an investor is what I’m best at, and what it’s best that I get help with.
As a brand new investor I tried to do it all myself and while I had abilities in a range of areas I was definitely better at some than others. As I look back, the areas where I made the biggest mistakes were my weaker areas. The saying goes that ‘You always have 20/20 vision in hindsight’ and I now realise that the cost and/or effort in getting the support of others who were strong in my weaker areas may well have been paid back many times compared to the losses I ended up with trying to do it all myself.
The following model was created by Roger Hamilton of Wealth Dynamics to show different Wealth creation types. It focusses on your strengths and how you make decisions when it comes to investing
It shows the 8 different leadership types around the edge – Creator (Starts new Business or develops new products), Star (Magnifies the brand), Supporter (Team Management), Deal Maker (Brings deals together), Trader (Buying and selling commodities), Accumulator (Buying and holding assets), Lord (Controlling cashflow producing assets) and Mechanic (Creating a duplicatable system).
The purple band shows the primary focus of their activities:
- INNOVATION – Thinks big picture, ideas focussed
- MAGNIFY – Builds what’s already there. Sells the vision. Brings out the best in people and organisations
- TIMING – Focusses on the details, good rigour
- MULTIPLY – Builds the business and improves existing processes. Takes ideas from creators and makes them work
Finally, the inner quadrants shows personality attributes and speak about the way the leader will make decisions.
Ultimately we all have the ability to take on a range of styles and we can certainly build our capability in these areas however we’ll likely always be dominant in one area more than others.
Whether we simply stay aware of this when making decisions outside of our strength areas, actively focus on building our capability or seek out assistance and partnerships from others who do have the strengths we don’t have, the key is awareness and taking actions to make sure we make the very best investment decisions.
Here is a link with more details on the wealth dynamics model including a you tube explanation by Roger Hamilton: http://www.wealthdynamics.com/
