This week I’m writing about Harry Houdini.  

A man of many talents if ever there was one.

If Tarzan and Kim Kardashian had a baby, then taught that baby how to pick locks and perform magic tricks, that baby would be Houdini.

Or Houdini-esque, at the very least.

Houdini was an acrobat, self-promoter, escapologist and magician all wrapped into one pint-sized package.

He took these unrelated skills and combined them in a way which DID relate them.

And what Houdini demonstrated (either deliberately or not – doesn’t make much difference) is an idea I stumbled on in a book a couple of years ago.

That book was by Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind the famous Dilbert comic-strips.

In How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Adams talks about skill-stacking.

The high-level idea is this:

The more skills you have in your arsenal, the greater your chance of success.

Makes sense right?

But there’s more to this idea than meets the eye.

Whilst Houdini was undoubtedly an expert at some skills, he was bang average at others.

For instance, magician Harry Blackstone Jr once wrote that Houdini “never mastered the art of manipulating cards”.

Other magicians were even less flattering about “butterfingers Harry”.

And this ties in nicely to what Scott Adams is claiming.

Which is this:

It’s not how skilful you are which matters.  Instead, it’s the number of skills you have.

In his own words:

You can raise your market value by being merely good ­– not extraordinary – at more than one skill.

In other words, Good + Good > Excellent.

Scott goes on to give his own example:

I’m a rich and famous cartoonist who doesn’t draw well.  At social gatherings I’m not the funniest person in the room.  My writing skills are good, not great. 

But what I have that most cartoonists do not is years of corporate business experience.  In the early years of Dilbert, my business experience served as fodder for the comic.  Eventually I discovered my business skills were essential in navigating Dilbert from a cult hit to a household name.

These examples have got me thinking. 

I can see how being “merely good” at a few skills could be more useful than being excellent at one or two.  Especially if they’re unusual or unrelated skills.

After all, the more skills you stack, the more unique you become.

And the more unique you become, the less competition you have.

I'm not suggesting a sloppy or slapdash approach.  But as long as your skills are good enough and you can find a way to combine them, this uniqueness could become your advantage. 

No-one else can match you, let alone compete.

Houdini used this idea 100 years ago to achieve global fame and success.  Scott Adams used this idea more recently to achieve much of the same.

So maybe being good enough rather than excellent is the way to find success?

Could be something to think about.

That’s all for today.

 - Tom

p.s. Whenever you're ready, here are the ways you can connect with me