This morning I finally got round to reading The New York Times supplement of The Observer, dated 20th July, which had the front page title; 'Persuasion Tactics'. The section that I thought I would pass on was a little random bit about talent that appealed to the Paul Arden in me. The article was written by Janet Rae-Dupree.
Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford University, has been doing research in to why some people reach their creative potential, while others do not. Her conclusion is that it comes down to the way individuals think about their own intelligence and talent. People that believe that they have a natural or innate ability that they are born with, are less likely to maximise their potential. These people are more likely to want to look smart, avoid mistakes and defend their status - they have a 'fixed mindset'.
On the flip side, people that believe talent can be acquired, learnt and built, are likely to have a 'growth mind set'. These people tend to be the ones that challenge conventions, confront and embrace their mistakes, and thus build on them.
To steal words from Kate Monster from Avenue Q, no doubt 'everyone's a little bit racist sometimes', but it did make me think about companies that focus on attracting the 'brightest people' from the 'best schools and universities'. True these people may fulfil their potential, but likewise they may also be the ones most fearful of falling from grace.
The question is then; how do employers predict the future success of people? Obviously we have interviews, psychometric tests, workshop days and more to try and get round it, but it is interesting that the one thing that doesn't help is the CV - the very first judgement hurdle. I am sure we all know stories of creative individuals that have got round the CV issue and applied the thinking above creatively. Hopefully they didn't take it quite as far as good old Aleksey Vayner mind you.
Apparently Scott Forstall of Apple spoke to Dweck about her research after he chose his iPhone development team. Rather than look for the brightest people, he chose those internally that were most hungry to be involved. As our wonderful Ignition team often say, If you send an email out to loads of people asking for help, you don't wait for the cleverest people to respond, you should go with those that are most enthusiastic and keen to work with you. Similarly, I once heard Richard Hytner of Saatchi & Saatchi state that in order to enjoy work life you need to surround yourself with Zappers, not Sappers.
Given that creativity can come from anything, anyone and anywhere, maybe we need a new approach to recruitment. Ideas, solutions, suggestions and answers on a postcard please!
- Sam
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