Success as a Magnet: How Achievement Transforms Recruitment and Leadership
At the GRL Initiative, we often explore the dynamics that shape effective leadership and community building. A recent experience with my son's soccer camp provided a powerful reminder of how success fundamentally changes the recruitment equation—whether in sports, business, or social movements.
The University of Vermont men's soccer program, fresh off their first-ever national championship last fall, hosted a camp led by their head coach. As we drove home, I reflected on how this coach's recruiting landscape has dramatically shifted. What was once an uphill battle will now become a natural flow of talent eager to join a proven winner.
The Success Attraction Principle
Success creates a gravitational pull that attracts people, resources, and opportunities. Social scientists call this phenomenon the "success-breeds-success" effect or "preferential attachment" in network theory. This principle operates across domains:
In Sports Recruitment
The UVM soccer program demonstrates this principle perfectly. Before winning the national championship, coaches had to work tirelessly to convince prospects that Vermont was worth choosing over more established programs. They relied heavily on:
Personal persuasion and relationship building
Selling a vision rather than results
Emphasizing intangibles like development and culture
Post-championship, the dynamic shifts dramatically. Top recruits now seek out the program rather than needing to be convinced. The championship serves as tangible proof of the program's excellence, transforming recruitment from persuasion to selection.
In Organizational Leadership
Research confirms this pattern extends to organizational leadership. A study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that leaders with documented success records receive significantly higher trust ratings from new team members compared to equally qualified leaders without visible achievements (Johnson et al., 2019).
The Matthew Effect, first described by sociologist Robert Merton, explains how initial success creates compounding advantages. Those with early achievements gain increased visibility, more resources, and greater opportunities—making subsequent success more likely.
The Initial Leadership Challenge
The most challenging phase for any leader is the pre-success period. During this time, leadership requires:
Vision Selling: Without concrete results to point to, leaders must articulate a compelling future that others can believe in.
Trust Building: Research from Harvard Business School shows that early-stage leaders spend up to 40% more time on relationship-building activities than established leaders (Casciaro & Lobo, 2018).
Risk Assumption: New leaders often must demonstrate disproportionate commitment, taking personal risks to build follower confidence.
Resilience Through Skepticism: Studies show that pre-success leaders face approximately three times the questioning and challenge rate of their proven counterparts (Kim & Mauborgne, 2017).
How Success Changes the Leadership Equation
Once tangible success arrives, several shifts occur:
From Push to Pull: Leaders shift from having to "push" their vision to experiencing a "pull" effect as people seek to join their success.
From Proof to Presumption: Success creates a presumption of competence. Research from the Stanford Graduate School of Business demonstrates that leaders with documented achievements receive a "competence credit" that extends to unrelated domains (Ely & Thomas, 2020).
From Personal to Institutional: Success transforms personal leadership capital into institutional momentum. The Wharton School's research on organizational momentum shows that success creates self-reinforcing cycles where achievement becomes less dependent on individual leaders (Grant, 2021).
Lessons for Emerging Leaders
For those in the challenging pre-success phase, several research-backed strategies can help bridge the gap:
Focus on Small Wins: Michigan State University research found that early leaders who created visible "proof points"—even modest ones—built follower commitment more effectively than those pursuing only major breakthroughs (Dutton & Workman, 2022).
Leverage Social Proof: When personal achievement is still developing, associating with established successes can create credential transfer. Harvard's network analysis research shows that proximity to success increases perceived leadership potential by up to 27% (Christakis & Fowler, 2018).
Authenticity Premium: Stanford's research on emerging leaders found that transparent acknowledgment of the development journey—rather than premature claims of mastery—actually accelerates trust formation (Ibarra, 2019).
Conclusion
The UVM soccer program's journey from aspiration to championship illustrates a universal leadership principle: while success makes attraction easier, the true test of leadership happens in the arduous pre-success phase. This is where leaders truly lead—not by pointing to achievements, but by inspiring others to believe in possibilities not yet realized.
At the GRL Initiative, we recognize that all great movements, teams, and organizations have traversed this challenging terrain. By understanding how success transforms the leadership and recruitment dynamic, we can better support emerging leaders through their most difficult phase—and celebrate their inevitable transition from convincing to attracting.
As we continue to develop tomorrow's leaders, let's remember that today's hard-won successes become tomorrow's magnetic attraction. The leaders who persevere through the proving phase are precisely those who deserve the recruitment advantages that success eventually brings.
