Can greatness be inherited?

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Can greatness be inherited just the way wealth can be passed on to children? Sometimes great people can leave behind big gaps that are too hard fill when they are no more. Most often, their children may find it hard to carry on their legacy. Some family businesses fail when the great entrepreneur of the family is no longer active.

A great person is someone with extra-ordinary or remarkably superior skills on something. Players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are great footballers who have done what many players can only dream of doing. Warren Buffett is one the greatest investors the world has ever seen.

Why is it difficult to inherit greatness?

Most often the following statements prove to be true:

• Greatness is not sexually transmitted (that is marrying a great person does not make you great).
• Success is not in the blood (In other words, having great parents has nothing to do with your greatness).

1) Greatness is mostly born out of difficult circumstances

What makes it extremely challenging for greatness to be passed on to other generations is because it is often born out of difficult circumstances or previous failures. Greatness is a product of what drives you but not what you are driving towards. Pain, failure and past suffering proved to be the most ruthless but efficient teachers of success.

As a great person, in most cases you shield your children from having to face these challenges. As a result of this, they will miss one of the greatest ingredients of greatness. The strength of a great person is molded from past experiences. Unfortunately experience can never be inherited.

Allow your children to try and fail when you are still there to guide and correct them so that when they grow up they will not depend on you.

If your children are to be great investors, let them feel the pain of losing their hard earned money. Do not give them the money to invest unless they proved to be great managers of their own money. As a parent, just be a multiplier factor – just enhance the little success that is already there. A parent should never be the the vision holder of the child but someone who support a great vision that is already there.

2) Greatness require uniqueness

Have you noticed that a person who copies someone is always overshadowed by the greatness of the person he/she is trying to copy? No matter how good you are, when you are portraying someone, you will never get credit for your hard work.

However, you can still reach greater heights if you get motivation from others to make your own greatness. Take note that the only difference is that you should market your own uniqueness. For you to be remembered as a great person, you should be doing something that separates you from other people.

The main problem with great people is that they want their children to be exactly like what they are. Their greatness overshadows what their children can offer. As a result their children will find it hard to keep the legacy they do not have inspiration from.

3) Talent is an ingredient of greatness

Having a dad who is a great footballer does not make the child a great footballer. There are some circumstances where a person can survive with hard work with no talent. In this case, the highest level you can achieve with no talent is being good but not necessarily great.

In addition, a parent’s talent may not necessarily be the child’s talent. A child of a great investor can be a great musician. This is why it is extremely important for a parent to understand his/her child’s talents at a young age.

Additional notes

It is easier to achieve greatness when you have people who can support you in your darkest moments. Having a parent or a partner who is great on something (not necessarily in your field of expertise) can help you to get motivation from them.

The advantage kids from rich families have is that if they have talents and proper support, they will achieve their own greatness faster. Most often wise rich people are able to identify their children’s talents at a tender age. They will then give their kids more time to try and fail when they are still young.

Kids from poor families are likely to enter the greatness arena at a very late stage. Their paths to greatness is often hindered by lack of financial support. Some will even give up on their talents especially if their talents are not providing food on their tables.

In conclusion, for greatness to be inherited, the beneficiaries need to have talent and should be able to forge their own unique greatness by learning from their own experiences. The only role that should be played by a great parent is to give motivation and support. It is extremely difficult to continue the legacy of the things you are not inspired to do. It is not what you are driving towards that will make you great, but it is what drives you.

Additional articles:

• Is age just a number on wealth creation?
• Why wealth people get more wealthier.
• Is education directly related to poverty?