Scaffolds and talent
Kindergarten teachers matter more than you think. Chess isn’t a talent, it’s a learned practice. We’re sorting for head starts, not growth. And that’s just the first chapter. I think Hidden Potential is the most important book in Adam Grant’s career.
The indoctrination around test scores and prodigies runs so deep, that most of us believe it to our core. Not just about others, but our kids and ourselves as well.
Soft skills are real, and attitudes are skills. They can be learned, and we can help others learn them as well.
The data is clear, but embracing it takes guts and mutual support. In many ways, we become what we allow the system to cause us to become. But we can change this.
It helps if we talk about it.