In his book, Hidden Potential, Adam Grant offers insight into how we can realize our hidden potential and achieve greater things.  This advice is relevant to us, as individuals, and as leaders of teams and companies.  To give a flavor of this excellent book, I will let Adam Grant speak through his own words.

Build and Focus on Character Skills

• The most meaningful growth is not building our careers – it’s building our character.
• Character skills training had a dramatic impact.  They studied proactivity, discipline, and determination, and practiced putting those qualities into action.
• When evaluating others, beware of mistaking past accomplishments and experience for future potential.  Background and talent determine where people start, but character skills shape how far they can climb.

Be a Sponge and Learn Even When It is Uncomfortable

• Learning styles are a myth.  The way you like to learn is what makes you comfortable; but it isn’t necessarily how you learn best.  Sometimes you even learn better in the mode that makes you the most uncomfortable, because you have to work harder at it.
• Seek out new knowledge, skills, and perspective to fuel your growth – not feed your ego.  Progress hinges on the quality of information you take in, not on the quantity of information you seek out.
• Teach what you want to learn.  You understand it better after you explain it – and you remember it better after you take the time to recall it.

Ask for Advice, Not Feedback

• Instead of seeking feedback, you’re better off asking for advice.  Feedback tends to focus on how well you did last time.  Advice shifts attention to how you can do better next time.  In experiments, that simple shift is enough to elicit more specific suggestions and more constructive input.  Rather than dwelling on what you did wrong, advice guides you toward what you can do right.
• Ask, ‘What’s one thing I can do better next time?”

Strive for Excellence, Not Perfection

• Progress comes from maintaining high standards, not eliminating every flaw.  Practice wabi sabi, the [Japanese] art of honoring beauty in imperfection, by identifying some shortcomings that you can accept.
• Measure your progress over time, not against an opponent.  When you compete against yourself, the only way to win is to grow.

Build a Smarter Team

• The best teams have the most team players – people who excel at collaborating with others.
• A single bad apple can spoil the barrel: even when one individual fails to act pro-socially; it’s enough to make a team dumb and dumber.
• Collective intelligence is best served by a different kind of leader.  The people to promote are the ones with the pro-social skills to put the mission above their ego – and team cohesion above personal glory.  They know that the goal isn’t to be the smartest person in the room; it’s to make the entire room smarter.

To Build an Even Smarter Team, ‘Brainwrite’

• 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.
• Brainwriting increases collective intelligence through balanced participation.  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.  The brainwriting process makes sure that all ideas are brought to the table and all voices brought into the conversation.

Redefine Success

• Success is more than reaching our goals – it’s living our values.  There’s no higher value than aspiring to be better tomorrow than we are today.  There’s no greater accomplishment than unleashing our hidden potential.