Chapter 8
View from 30,000 Feet
“We have been unintentionally misleading our youth for years by misrepresenting the capabilities of their talents and understating the value of their strengths. Teachers are guilty of it along with coaches, bosses, and especially parents.”
Now if this statement leaves you a bit confused and asking for further explanation, you are feeling just as I did when the woman sitting beside me on the plane said it. A bit taken aback, I asked her for some clarification. What she proposed next she said with such resolve that I was convinced she had given the same explanation a hundred times before. And you know what? She had.
“Now don’t get me wrong,” she continued. “They are innocent and unintentional errors. Like when an English teacher writes an encouraging note on a student’s homework saying, ‘You are a very talented writer.’ Or when a coach travels across the country to recruit a ‘talented’ quarterback to lead his team.”
As she continued, I reached down under the seat in front of me to fish out a notebook from my carry-on bag.
“Senior partners in a legal firm pride themselves in saying they only hire the most talented attorneys. A proud parent posts pictures from their child’s music recital with the caption ‘We are so proud of our talented pianist.’ As harmless as each of these statements sound, they are all quite inaccurate. Each misattributes ‘talent’ as the reason for exceptional performance.”
When I asked if she would mind my taking some notes while we talked, she emphatically replied, “Please do.” Simultaneously, she handed me a pen. Printed on the side of the pen was the logo of a well-known and respected university. Checking my watch, I noted that our scheduled landing at the airport was still over an hour away, so I continued to pepper the woman with questions. Turns out, she was a senior faculty member at the university whose logo was on the pen she had given me. That day she was traveling to deliver a talk at a conference for educators. Curious to learn more, I asked about the topic of her upcoming speech.
“It’s about the talent crisis we are facing in America. Truth is, we’re really facing a strengths crisis,” she said. “A crisis that begins with our misunderstanding of talent.”
She went on to explain how her university receives thousands of applications each year from high school seniors, international students, and transfer students all anxious to be accepted into their “dream” university. Each student’s application is reviewed, categorized, and carefully vetted for possible acceptance. As she explained, this process had become increasingly difficult, as most applicants are what many people describe as very “talented.” Their merits include high grade-point averages, outstanding performances and awards, committed participation in clubs and sports, countless volunteer service hours, and shining recommendations from prestigious professionals.
Interested in how the university filtered through the glut of qualified applicants, I asked, “How did they address the issue?”
She explained that one of their breakthroughs in their application process was asking students to describe their strengths and weaknesses, and how each influences their purpose in life.
Wanting to learn more, I asked how students answered this great question.
“I’ll tell you what they should say,” the women replied while tipping her head to one side.
Pen in hand, I drew a star on my notes page in anticipation of the importance of the insider perspective she was about to share.
“You can write this down if you want”—she smirked—“but I don’t think you’re going to forget it.” She continued, “They should answer our questions about their strengths, weaknesses, and purpose in life with, ‘I’d like to start with my weaknesses—they include the fact that I don’t know my strengths or purpose in life.’”
A short pause allowed my mind to fully register what she said. Then she continued. “But instead they almost always repeat what people have told them about their talents. They answer, ‘I’m a talented leader, or a talented football quarterback, or a talented public speaker.’ But the problem is, that’s not what we asked them.”
“So, how should they do it? Describe their strengths, weaknesses, and purpose?” I asked.
Leaning on the armrest, she looked at me, smiled, and said, “We would love to have them say something like . . .
‘I do my best to minimize my weaknesses and maximize my strengths. My strengths include visionary leadership while serving three terms on student council.’
‘My strengths include earning the position of starting quarterback and team captain.’
‘My strengths include standing as valedictorian and delivering an inspirational speech that has been viewed over 100,000 times on YouTube.’”
She elaborated. “We’re really not too concerned about the specifics of their weaknesses. As long as they recognize they have them and are finding ways to work with, around, or reduce them. Mainly we are interested in learning if they know of their strengths, what strengths they want to develop, and how their strengths empower them with purpose in life. After all, that is the job of our university: to help students build, share, and multiply the value of their strengths.”
Our conversation continued until the flight landed. We discussed the best practices of professional educators, the responsibilities of parents, and what the future might hold for the next generation. In the end, we agreed the talent crisis we are facing today needs to be aggressively addressed. We concluded that a good starting point is to work on correcting many young people’s misperception that they are going to make it in life on the impulses of their raw talents rather than the recognized value of their developed strengths.
We both agreed that talents are good, but since strengths are transformed talents, strengths are more valuable than talents.
So how do we help a generation move beyond their talents? Putting first things first, we need to correct our misunderstanding of the difference between talents and strengths. Everyone has talent. Literally everyone. We are all born with natural tendencies or abilities that can be positively applied. Unfortunately, not everyone has strengths.
Oops, did that puncture the fragile shell we use to shield ourselves from feelings of inadequacy? It did, didn’t it. Sorry, not sorry. The truth is, not everyone has strengths, because many people leave their talents undeveloped. Maybe this is our fault. In our attempt to never offend, we have deceived an entire generation with the lie that they are good at everything. Trophies for everyone! At the same time, we have failed a generation by not being honest with them about how on talent alone, they lack what it takes to be competitive. To be truly competitive requires actual strength.
Strength is the ability to make a positive contribution greater than what is expected in return.
This means people who have transformed their talents into strengths hold an advantage over those who haven’t. For instance, the best coaches don’t simply recruit talented athletes. Winning coaches recruit players with certain valued strengths who can contribute what the team needs to win both in and out of competition. Likewise, the very best companies don’t just hire talented people. They hire for specific strengths that will give their company an edge in the marketplace. The finest orchestras don’t just put out a call for talented musicians. They seek premier artists who have mastered an instrument, can follow a principal conductor, and will contribute to the performance.
Please don’t misunderstand me here. I absolutely do believe talent is a critical component of quality performance. But on talent alone, one’s performance is seldom consistent, rarely exceptional, and holds little lasting value to others. Without careful and consistent honing, most talents are best described as crude, unrefined, or raw. For raw talent to be transformed into a consistent, exceptional, and valuable strength, it must be refined and united to function as one of four interdependent values.
In addition to identifying their raw talent, top performers pursue quality training, master the timing of practice and patience, and carefully steward the treasures of their life. The resulting outcome of talent, training, timing, and treasures is valued strength. It’s for valued strength, not raw talent, that a top ballplayer gets drafted, a new employee gets hired, and a master musician is selected to sit first chair. Here’s another way of describing the difference between talent and strength that will grab the attention of young people today: Talent will get you recognized. Strength will make you renowned.
CONSIDER THIS:
The “participation trophy” may not be as new of a concept as we all think. This headline, printed in the February 8, 1922, edition of the Evening Independent of Massillon, Ohio, reads “Many Trophies for Tossers in State Tournament.” The column begins with, “Trophies galore will be offered for the second annual Ohio State invitation high school basketball tournament.” The piece goes on to state, “Members of the victorious outfits will be given individual trophies. A participation trophy also will be given to each athlete playing in the series.”1
- What are your thoughts on the trend that all the children who participate should be recognized evenly (“Trophies for everyone!”)?
Benefits __________
Problems __________ - When you were young, in what areas of your life were you told you were very talented?
- Did you go on to become a top performer in any of those areas? If so, consider what commitments were required to transform your raw talents into a valued strengths. List a few.