Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

by Adam M. Grant

Collective intelligence rises as team members recognize one another’s strengths, develop strategies for leveraging them, and motivate one another to align their efforts in pursuit of a shared purpose.

In a meta-analysis, highly narcissistic people were more likely to rise into leadership roles, but they were less effective in those roles.[*1]

To unearth the hidden potential in teams, instead of brainstorming, we’re better off shifting to a process called brainwriting. The initial steps are solo. You start by asking everyone to generate ideas separately. Next, you pool them and share them anonymously among the group. To preserve independent judgment, each member evaluates them on their own. Only then does the team come together to select and refine the most promising options. By developing and assessing ideas individually before choosing and elaborating them, teams can surface and advance possibilities that might not get attention otherwise.

In brainstorming meetings, it’s too easy for participation to become lopsided in favor of the biggest egos, the loudest voices, and the most powerful people.

Sure enough, there’s evidence that brainwriting is especially effective in groups that struggle to achieve collective intelligence.

Individuals produce a greater volume and variety of novel ideas when they work alone. That means that they come up with more brilliant ideas than groups—but also more terrible ideas than groups. It takes collective judgment to find the signal in the noise.

In schools and workplaces, selection systems are usually designed to detect excellence. That means people who are on their way to excellence rarely make the cut.

In a meta-analysis of 44 studies with over 11,000 people across a wide range of jobs, prior work experience had virtually no bearing on performance.

This is an example of a phenomenon known as the Peter Principle. It’s the idea that people at work tend to get promoted to their “level of incompetence”—they keep advancing based on their success in previous jobs until they get trapped in a new role that’s beyond their abilities.

It’s often said that talent sets the floor, but character sets the ceiling.

interview model like Call Yachol’s

Growth mindset says, “I don’t know what I’m doing yet. It’s only a matter of time until I figure it out.”

If you doubt yourself, shouldn’t you also doubt your low opinion of yourself?

Ask for advice, not feedback. Feedback is backward-looking—it leads people to criticize you or cheer for you. Advice is forward-looking—it leads people to coach you. You can get your critics and cheerleaders to act more like coaches by asking a simple question: “What’s one thing I can do better next time?”

Show people how easy it is to hear a hard truth from someone who believes in their potential and cares about their success.