Good with numbers, Good with people

I watched The Pursuit of Happiness over the weekend. There was a scene when Chris Gardner was at the financial area, and he saw a guy came out from a nice sports car. So Chris asked the guy what he did for a living. That guy said he was a stockbroker. Chris asked how he became a stockbroker. And that stockbroker said if he was good with numbers and good with people, he could also be a stockbroker. This gave Chris an inspiration to apply for the intern position at Dean Witter.

So I thought if someone is good with numbers and good with people, he/she can be an actuary too. Just imagine the guy who came out from that sports car was not a stockbroker, but an actuary. Who knows, Chris Gardner might become an actuary instead. With the persistence and determination shown by Chris in the movie, I’m sure he can endure the actuarial exams.

I remembered a piece of advice given by a family friend, who was also someone good with numbers (a fairly successful accountant in the bay area). He told me, “you don’t have to the best of the best (to be successful), but you have to be nice to people.”

2 comments:

simpleblob said...

What he said is very important point, but to find someone who is good at both is quite hard.

I read somewhere that people who really excel (read:genius) at math will suffer from huge deficit in other skill (mostly social aspect)

For empirical evidence, I am somewhat good at math and sucks at social skill.

But it is better this way because I believe that math skill only comes from genetics, people skill can come from genetics or experience.

Do you agree?

Y said...

I also had the impression that the math talent and the social skill are inversely proportional. Perhaps that's where the actuary's jokes are based on.

"Nature vs. nurture", personally I think all skill sets are learn-able, as long as we have the attitude and willingness to learn.