Do you make the best use of your potential? 

In my recent videos, I have discussed Types of People and knowing yourself, which is the key to unlocking your full potential. 

I recently came across two examples of people. One rose to great heights, and the other became a criminal, and I’m going to talk about them in regard to the Types of People approach. 

A movie titled Mully features a man from Kenya named Charles Mully.  

As I watched the film about Mully, I thought of him, and which type he could be. And I’m guessing he was probably an active, positive type. We call this the Planner type and the dominant center of intelligence is the Intellectual. 

Mully grew up in poverty; his father was an alcoholic, he would beat his mother, and his family abandoned him as a child. He was forced to find his own way in the world, but rather than adapt to a life of poverty,  he rose to become very successful. He became one of the wealthiest businesspeople in Kenya.  

Searching for purpose in his life and remembering his past,  he made it his mission to help orphaned children.  He began rescuing them from the street and offered them a way to rehabilitate. 

For any obstacle that was put in front of him, he found a solution.  He seemed to use his three intelligences in a balanced way, and nothing could stop him, even with limited resources. 

Another character is Bernie Madoff. He was a very bright man and co-founded the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.  

He introduced advanced computing into the stock exchange and founded a very successful trading company.  

However, he also founded an investment advisory company that took people’s money and falsified returns. The money was never invested in stocks but was used to pay back other investors and finance Madoff’s extravagant lifestyle. 

Bernie Madoff had even more potential to do good than Mully as he was never abandoned and went to university. But he became quite unbalanced and succumbed to his greed and need to be accepted and admired by the wealthy. 

I’m not quite sure what type Madoff belonged to but I would guess the Inspirater type. This positive but passive type is good with people and businesses but can suffer from their vanity and cause great unbalance if not worked on. 

I thought this was a great example of two people with extremely different upbringings could use their qualities in such different ways, one to do good and the other to self-destruct. 

You can learn more about the Types of People approach to self-knowledge and how to become better balanced through my online workshop or soon-to-come elearning. Add yourself to the list to get news of these training programs that will be provided free of charge.  

There is a narrative film about Charles Mully on Netflix and a documentary series on Bernie Madoff also on Netflix that I highly recommend.