We all want to work with the most talented people. Being surrounded by talented people impacts our organization and our results and increases our expectations of what can be accomplished. We want to have the best talent on our teams, and it's a constant challenge to identify them.
But let's start with how you measure potential.
How do you measure potential?
The most common practice is to look into past performance. We are used to looking at where people start, how far they grow, and how fast they reach the highest point.
As part of the selection process, people look for test scores and educational background.
But you could be looking at false indicators. As Adam Grant highlighted: "Potential is not a matter of where you start, but how far you travel. We need to focus less on starting points and more on distance traveled. (...) When we confuse past performance with future potential, we miss out on people whose achievements have involved overcoming major obstacles."
For many years, people assumed that potential was a gift, whether you had it or not. Only if you are lucky enough to be "gifted" will you be able to accomplish greater things. And even now, many companies are looking for gifted and talented people. Thankfully, this is changing.
Everyone has potential, and we can learn to develop it. Growth is not about how hard you work but how well you learn. We all can learn.
With the right opportunity and motivation to learn, anyone can build the skills to achieve greater things.
Are you really looking for a person who wants to transform things for the better? Knowing people's drivers, characters, and values can help you understand if they are looking for status or if someone really cares enough to seek and make a difference.
Learning is a process we choose to go through, and learning needs to happen more.
We can continue doing the process as we know and have always done, but we can choose to do better. We can give more people the chance to achieve greater things. We can and have the responsibility to create and improve our systems to allow more people to thrive —regardless of their background.
We can choose to level up.
Instead of only looking for geniuses where we expect to find them, we can reach humanity's greatest potential by cultivating the genius in everyone.
—Adam Grant