Today is the final blog about Adam Grant’s book, Hidden Potential. If you didn’t read parts 1 and 2 in the last couple of weeks please go check them out. This blog will make a lot more sense if you do. In this final section of the book, Adam discusses the different systems that are in place within society and how they can impact our ability to move toward mastery. He begins by talking about the education system and brings up the country, Finland. By comparison to other countries, Finland used to be one of the lowest rated in education. In the 1960s, nearly 90% of the population didn’t make it beyond the 9th grade. However, by the year 2000, they were ranked #1 throughout the world in education. The reason for this is because they completely overhauled their entire education system with the idea of bringing out the best in every single student. They’re philosophy became, “We can’t afford to waste a brain.” Tutoring and personalized education plans for all students became the norm, not just creating opportunities for top students. They also invested in teachers, and within their entire culture teaching became one of the most admired professions. Teachers in Finland are also given unique opportunities to build relationships with their students in order to know exactly what they need to learn. They also make sure to emphasize deliberate play.

Next, he speaks about making groups more effective. Surprisingly, creating groups out of the most intelligent people doesn’t necessarily make them the most successful. The most successful groups are the ones in which members collaborate and help each other. Including even one team member who is more self-centered or narcissistic tends to make groups much less effective. Also, team building exercises aren’t particularly helpful (Sorry to whoever plans the company retreats). It is more important for team members to see cooperating with each other as the path to success. This causes people to depend on each other and share knowledge. When everyone is free to share ideas together without fear of anyone’s ego (including the fear of looking stupid in front of others or the pressure to agree with someone in power) they can take full advantage of a variety of expertise. This requires the right kind of leadership. The best leaders aren’t necessarily the standouts in their field or the loudest at the meeting. The best leaders are the ones who can recognize that the team's success is more important than their own ego and create an atmosphere where everyone feels safe to contribute.

For those who are in leadership roles, the next part of the book talks about the importance of not just looking at someone’s overall progress, but to consider their hard work and ability to overcome obstacles. He points out that, “Early failure followed by later success is a mark of hidden potential.” People who are willing to be persistent and develop skills that they lack are showing the world, not just what they’ve already done, but what they are capable of doing in the future.

Imposter syndrome frequently pops during our journeys of uncovering our hidden potential. Adam points out that, “Imposter syndrome says, I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s only a matter of time until everyone finds out. Growth mindset, on the other hand says, I don’t know what I’m doing yet. It’s only a matter of time until I figure it out.” Adam says that imposter syndrome holds an interesting paradox: “Others believe in you. You don’t believe in yourself. Yet you believe yourself instead of them. If you doubt yourself, shouldn’t you also doubt your low opinion of yourself?” I’ve already mentioned this last quote of his in another blog about imposter syndrome, but it bears repeating: “It feels like other people are overestimating you, but it’s more likely that you’re underestimating yourself. They’ve recognized a capacity for growth that you can’t see yet. When multiple people believe in you, it might be time to believe them.”

Near the beginning of the book, Adam encourages readers to be sponges that filter out harmful or unnecessary information as they absorb that which is helpful. The learning process, if done correctly, will be uncomfortable, and by facing and embracing this discomfort we have the opportunity to grow. Throughout the book, Adam shares stories about people who have uncovered their hidden potential, as well as stories from his own past. There is not a single story about someone listed in this book who was naturally talented and coasted their way to excellence on their innate abilities. This book does not show us how to stumble upon our hidden potential. It shows us how to put in the work necessary to dig it out. Is this daunting? Oh, absolutely. We lead busy lives, and we’re all out here doing the best that we can. The point isn't to work ourselves to the bone. The point is to be more purposeful with how we spend our time and energy. If we can invite and embrace discomfort, take in and learn from helpful criticism, learn to accept progress over perfection, embrace play as a way of practicing and improving, allow our progress to include some downs as well as ups, and learn effective ways to motivate ourselves, every single one of us can move toward mastery in whatever area we choose.

Last week’s blog introduced the book, Hidden Potential, by Adam Grant. It was a little too long of a book to cover in a blog that’s intended to be a 5 minute read, though, so today will be part II of the book. If you didn’t read the blog last week, you may want to click on it before you read this one.

Adam begins the next chapter talking about deliberate play as a part of learning and developing mastery. He defines this process as, “A structured activity that’s designed to make skill development enjoyable. It blends elements of deliberate practice and free play.” Deliberate play is all about making it fun to develop one’s skills. The idea behind this is that mastery requires countless hours of practice, that when forced and boring can lead to burnout. By making skill building fun, the participant gains a dopamine rush while building their skills. In one example, Stephan Curry, was originally a very underrated basketball player until he met a coach that helped him build skills while having fun. They came up with games where there was always another time or score to beat. Skill building wasn’t ever focused on just one area either. They would mix up a variety of practice methods to build different skills, resulting in all of the benefits of dedicated practice without the tedium. This isn’t just something that works in sports, either. To become great at anything we must practice again and again. Making the practice fun means we are more likely to keep going. Breaks are another important part of practice, though. Research shows 3 things about breaks: Small breaks keep us energized to continue and boost our energy, breaks unlock ideas and creativity, and it actually improves our memory and recall to break after learning something new. Taking time to relax and play while learning gives us a chance to roll things around in our minds as well as an opportunity to enjoy ourselves while we build skills.

A very interesting bit of information from the next chapter points out that our skills don’t really grow at a steady pace. As we get closer to mastery our improvement seems smaller and smaller until, weirdly, our abilities can seem to move backwards. Adam points out that this is completely normal, and he equates it to driving up a mountain and getting to a point in the road where we can go no further. At this point we have no choice but to back up and try to find another path that will take us higher. Personally, I found this to be a relief. Knowing that those setbacks are a normal part of learning and improving takes some of the pressure and panic out of these moments. It may seem like the best thing to do, as we’re trying to learn and gain new skills, is consult with an expert. The problem with this is that experts have often moved so far beyond the fundamentals that they often can’t explain how to help a beginner find what they need. Experts don’t have the same strengths and weaknesses as novices. Adam suggests using multiple guides on our path to learning and improvement. Still, progressing isn’t always very obvious, and when it seems like we have become stagnant it can be very discouraging. Adam says that at this point it’s best to re-engage with hobbies. It turns out that when people have serious hobbies (that are very different from their jobs), their confidence surrounding their jobs improves too.

Often we’re going to find that we come up against obstacles as we work to uncover our hidden potential. The way that we view these obstacles really matters because viewing them as threats can cause us to give up, while seeing them as challenges to overcome helps us to do exactly that. This works best, however, when we work together with a team to take on these challenges. It’s why study groups are so effective. They allow different people within the group to showcase their areas of understanding and then strengthen their own knowledge further through teaching others. We want to make sure that we surround ourselves with the right people too because their expectations of us have both a positive and negative impact on what we can accomplish. This is further influenced, though, by their own knowledge in the area where we struggle. As an example, let’s say that I’m trying to improve soccer skills with touch drills but I keep tripping over my feet. If an experienced soccer coach tells me I’m hopeless and I simply won’t get it, this will probably be very discouraging and make me consider quitting. If the naysayer is someone who has never touched a soccer ball before, I may then take this as a challenge to prove them wrong. On the other hand, if an inexperienced person encourages me, this may not be particularly meaningful because they don’t know what they’re talking about. If the soccer coach is encouraging me to keep at it, I may want to prove them right. The biggest inspiration for overcoming challenges, though, is having something worth fighting for. People who take on challenges for the betterment of others gain an additional level of strength. Adam has a great quote near the end of this chapter, “It’s more important to be good ancestors than dutiful descendants. Too many people spend their lives being custodians of the past instead of stewards of the future. We worry about making our parents proud when we should be focused on making our children proud. The responsibility of each generation is not to please our predecessors–it’s to improve conditions for our successors.”

Come back next week as we wrap up this fantastic book. The remaining chapters focus less on what we can do individually, and more on what we can do collectively to maximize the exposure of hidden potential.