Hidden Potential Book
I listened to this book basically because I ran out of material to listen to and it looked interesting. One of my friends is an unabashed fan of Adam Grant and I had to see what the hubub is about.
TLDR, the book is another entry into the annals of “self-help” but not really. Its like reading Malcolm Gladwell but in another voice. You know how Malcolm Gladwell popularized the myth of 10,000 dedicated practice hours? Well Adam Grant is trying to popularize the idea that its “character, not talent” that makes the person.
Conceptually, I like the idea of character winning out over talent. In theory, its something you can change, but I have to say, its very much like talent. You’re pretty much born with all the character you’re going to have, or I should say, the circumstances of your birth and situation determines a lot of your character. If you have good parents, you are probably going to have good character as they help you work through issues. Good parents are probably the one thing that doesn’t change much in the “is it nature or nurture” debates.
Anyhow, the book is full of great examples, from unlikely chess champions, to RA Dickey reinventing himself to be a knuckle baller, to HR managers expounding how modern hiring techniques don’t really work (and there is NO easy judge for characters either), to the first class of african american officers in the navy. The examples and stories are really worth the price of admission to the book themselves I feel.
At the end of the book, I came to the conclusion that yes, you want to work with and ideally become someone with character (as defined by the book, its really probably another word for grit). But as usual, they don’t really tell you how you can become someone with more character, just like they don’t really tell you how you can dedicate yourself to practice for 10,000 hours on something you have no interest in.
Its like all other self help books, come for the stories, and don’t take the suggestions too much to heart, you are going to be who you already are, and short of some amazing things, probably not going to change all that much.
Recommended for the excellent stories.