tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/success-34594/articles
Success – The Conversation
2023-09-05T12:31:24Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211650
2023-09-05T12:31:24Z
2023-09-05T12:31:24Z
I love swords, so I designed a course on how to use them to succeed in life
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544847/original/file-20230826-29838-e4gftt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C51%2C4230%2C2792&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can knowing how to handle a sword help in other areas of life?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-with-katana-black-background-royalty-free-image/185056501?phrase=samurai+sword&adppopup=true">by_nicholas/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“Samurai Swordsmanship”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>When I was very young, I was intrigued by swords. Maybe that was a result of watching too many <a href="https://vimeo.com/1937576">sword scenes from Errol Flynn movies</a>. At any rate, the result was that when I was working on my bachelor’s degree, I began participating in European fencing, which is a style of competition using a foil – which is a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/foil-sword">sword with a light, flexible blade</a> – or a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/rapier-sword">rapier</a> with a protective tip. This style of competition is very popular and can be seen in the Olympics.</p>
<p>Then I saw a gentleman demonstrate techniques and movements with a samurai sword, a Japanese katana,
and I was instantly hooked. I began training in <a href="https://www.iaido.com/Iaido.html">iaido</a> – which is the art of unsheathing and using the Japanese katana.</p>
<p>The katana is a <a href="https://katana-sword.com/blogs/katana-blog/who-invented-the-katana">sword developed during the Kamakura period</a> – from 1185 to 1333 – and it became my passion. The idea for this course came from my desire to share this passion with others.</p>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>The most obvious subject covered in the class, which I teach at the University of Tennessee, involves the various techniques of using the sword. The techniques are from iaido and are centuries old.</p>
<p>In this course, bokken are used to practice the techniques. Bokken are wooden training tools which are used to ensure the safety of beginning practitioners. The techniques taught in this course are very close to the same techniques that the samurai trained with hundreds of years ago. But, in addition, the course delves into the mental and emotional aspects of iaido.</p>
<p>Iaido is about maintaining mental and emotional balance in the midst of turmoil. This course explores some of the strategies that enable the student to achieve that mastery over themselves. A good example of that would be the use of positive self-affirmations. For instance, if we were to look at ourselves in the mirror and think to ourselves, “I am overweight and out of shape,” we are programming ourselves to have a negative self-image. By using positive self-affirmations, we change that observation of self to, “I am working toward being in the kind of shape that I want to be in.” We are then programming ourselves to have a more positive self-image because we are improving. The self-image that we program into ourselves has a large influence on our daily interactions with the world around us. </p>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>In our modern culture, people often maintain an extremely fast pace. Information and stimuli bombard us at a rate never seen before, and it can be overwhelming. Being able to maintain a sense of calm and inner peace in the midst of this maelstrom is key, and a very real challenge. Iaido is centered around achieving and maintaining that balance. </p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>The martial arts are so much more than a recreational pursuit. If used properly, lessons learned from martial arts can be applied in a peaceful, nonviolent manner every day, allowing us to achieve our true potential.</p>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<p>Research has shown that when students process information <a href="https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/types-of-learning-styles/">in different ways</a>, they are <a href="https://www.educationcorner.com/the-learning-pyramid.html">more likely</a> to <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10129/chapter/8#118">retain the information</a>.</p>
<p>Based on that, in this class the students see the techniques performed, then they perform the techniques, and then they sketch and describe the techniques. This provides an opportunity to not only process the information multiple times but to process the information in multiple ways.</p>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>At the end of this course, students should have a good foundation in samurai swordsmanship, specifically iaido.</p>
<p>Essentially, iaido is about helping students learn how to find peace and harmony within themselves and how to maintain a calm and peaceful manner when faced with a stressful situation. </p>
<p>The students will learn realistic swordsmanship as well as self-defense techniques. Also, students will receive the benefits from the physical workout as well as an appreciation for a holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lancing C. England Ed.S. holds a 9th Degree Black Belt in Satori-Ryu Iaido, under the instruction of Dale S. Kirby Sr., the founder. </span></em></p>
A former fencer who fell in love with the samurai sword explains how learning to wield the weapon can help people stave off trouble in other areas of life.
Lancing C. England, Instructor, University of Tennessee
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200520
2023-05-17T12:40:28Z
2023-05-17T12:40:28Z
Three lessons from Aristotle on friendship
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526269/original/file-20230515-18888-w9tcrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C0%2C5152%2C3445&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Aristotle (center), wearing a blue robe, seen in a discourse with Plato in a 16th century fresco, 'The School of Athens' by Raphael.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/the-school-of-athens-detail-of-a-mural-by-raphael-royalty-free-image/538198840">Pascal Deloche/Stone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While most love songs are inspired by the joys and heartaches of romantic relationships, love between friends can be just as intense and complicated. Many people struggle to make and maintain friendships, and a falling-out with a close friend can be as painful as a breakup with a partner.</p>
<p>Despite these potential pitfalls, human beings have always prized friendship. As the 4th century B.C.E. philosopher Aristotle wrote: “<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abekker%20page%3D1155a%3Abekker%20line%3D3">no one would choose to live without friends</a>,” even if they could have all other good things instead. </p>
<p><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/">Aristotle is mostly known</a> for his influence on science, politics and aesthetics; he is less well known for his writing on friendship. I am <a href="https://michiganstate.academia.edu/EmilyKatz">a scholar of ancient Greek philosophy</a>, and when I cover this material with my undergraduates, they are astonished that an ancient Greek thinker sheds so much light on their own relationships. But maybe this should not be surprising: There have been human friendships as long as there have been human beings. </p>
<p>Here, then, are three lessons about friendship that Aristotle can still teach us.</p>
<h2>1. Friendship is reciprocal and recognized</h2>
<p>The first lesson comes from Aristotle’s definition of friendship: reciprocal, recognized goodwill. In contrast to parenthood or siblinghood, friendship exists only if it is acknowledged by both parties. It is not enough to wish someone well; they have to wish you well in return, and you must both recognize this mutual goodwill. As Aristotle <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3Dpos%3D370%3Asection%3D4">puts it</a>:
“To be friends … [the parties] must feel goodwill for each other, that is, wish each other’s good, and be aware of each other’s goodwill.”</p>
<p>Aristotle illustrates this point with an early example of a <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100305809;jsessionid=0AFA8CDD9156B5EA9F049311EEB54E42">parasocial relationship</a> – a one-sided kind of relationship in which someone develops friendly feelings for, and even feels that they know, a public figure they have never met. Aristotle offers this example: <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D2">A fan may wish an athlete well</a> and feel emotionally invested in his success. But because the athlete does not reciprocate or recognize this goodwill, they are not friends. </p>
<p>This is as true today as it was in Aristotle’s time. Consider that you cannot even be Facebook friends with someone unless they accept your friend request. By contrast, you can be someone’s social media follower without their acknowledgment. </p>
<p>Still, it is perhaps more difficult today to distinguish friendships from parasocial relationships. When content creators share details about their personal lives, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221085812">their followers may develop a one-sided sense of intimacy</a>. They know things about the creator that, before the arrival of social media, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.jul.07">would have been known by only a close friend</a>. </p>
<p>The creator may feel goodwill toward her followers, but that is not friendship. Goodwill is not genuinely reciprocal if one party feels it toward an individual while the other feels it toward a group. In this way, Aristotle’s definition of friendship lends clarity to a uniquely modern situation.</p>
<h2>2. Three kinds of friendship</h2>
<p>Consider next Aristotle’s distinction between three kinds of friendship: utility-based, pleasure-based and character-based friendships. Each arises from <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D1">what is valued</a> in the friend: <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D1">their usefulness, the pleasure of their company</a> or their <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3Dpos%3D376%3Asection%3D6">good character</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526279/original/file-20230515-25302-mjrwad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two young women talking while spending time together." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526279/original/file-20230515-25302-mjrwad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526279/original/file-20230515-25302-mjrwad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526279/original/file-20230515-25302-mjrwad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526279/original/file-20230515-25302-mjrwad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526279/original/file-20230515-25302-mjrwad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526279/original/file-20230515-25302-mjrwad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526279/original/file-20230515-25302-mjrwad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Aristotle saying friendships needs to be nurtured and maintained through activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-friends-spending-leisure-time-while-talking-royalty-free-image/1406476113?phrase=friends&adppopup=true">The Good Brigade/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>While character-based friendship is the highest form, you can have only <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3Dpos%3D378%3Asection%3D8">a few such intimate friends</a>. It takes a long time to get to know someone’s character, and you have to spend a lot of <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D3">time together</a> to maintain such a friendship. Since time is a limited resource, most friendships will be based on pleasure or utility.</p>
<p>Sometimes my students protest that utility relationships are not really friendships. How can two people be friends if they are using one another? However, when both parties understand their utility friendship in the same way, they are not exploiting but rather mutually benefiting one another. As <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D1">Aristotle explains</a>: “Differences between friends most frequently arise when the nature of their friendship is not what they think it is.”</p>
<p>If your study partner believes you hang out because you enjoy her company, while you actually hang out because she is good at explaining calculus, hurt feelings can follow. But if you both understand that you are hanging out so that you may improve your calculus grade and she her writing grade, you can develop mutual goodwill and respect for each other’s strengths.</p>
<p>Indeed, the limited nature of a utility friendship can be just what makes it beneficial. Consider a contemporary form of utility friendship: the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.06.011">peer support group</a>. Since you can have only a small number of character-based friends, many people dealing with trauma or struggling with chronic illness do not have close friends working through these experiences.</p>
<p>Support group members are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.13700">uniquely positioned to help one another</a>, even if they have very different personal values and beliefs. These differences may mean that the friendships never become character-based; yet the group members may feel deep goodwill toward one another.</p>
<p>In short, Aristotle’s second lesson is that there is a place for each kind of friendship, and that a friendship works when there is a shared understanding of its basis.</p>
<h2>3. Friendship is like fitness</h2>
<p>Finally, Aristotle has something valuable to say about what makes friendships last. He claims that a friendship, like fitness, is a state or disposition that must be maintained by activity: As fitness is maintained by regular exercise, so friendship is maintained by doing things together. What happens, then, when you and your friend cannot engage in friendship activities? <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D1">Aristotle writes</a>:</p>
<p>“Friends who are … parted are not actively friendly, yet have the disposition to be so. For separation does not destroy friendship absolutely, though it prevents its active exercise. If however the absence be prolonged, it seems to cause the friendly feeling itself to be forgotten.” </p>
<p>Contemporary research backs this up: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2022.2145327">The state of friendship can persist</a> even without friendship activities, but if this goes on long enough, the friendship will fade. It might seem that Aristotle’s point has become less relevant, as communication technologies – from postal service to FaceTime – have made it possible to maintain friendships across great distances. </p>
<p>But while physical separation no longer spells the end of a friendship, Aristotle’s lesson remains true. Research shows that, despite having access to communication technologies, people who decreased their friendship activities during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2022.2145327">experienced a corresponding decrease</a> in the quality of their friendships. </p>
<p>Today, as in ancient Athens, friendships have to be maintained by engaging in friendship activities.</p>
<p>Aristotle could not have imagined today’s communication technologies, the advent of online support groups or the kinds of parasocial relationships made possible by social media. Yet for all the ways in which the world has changed, Aristotle’s writing on friendship continues to resonate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Katz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A scholar of ancient Greek philosophy writes about Aristotle’s timeless advice on how to nurture and keep friendships.
Emily Katz, Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Philosophy, Michigan State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/193369
2022-11-28T13:33:45Z
2022-11-28T13:33:45Z
This course takes a broad look at failure – and what we can all learn when it occurs
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495430/original/file-20221115-13-43j9ro.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C35%2C7856%2C5237&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Failure can be helpful if it's understood correctly.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/freelancer-woman-works-at-laptop-in-evening-royalty-free-image/1387939448?phrase=failure&adppopup=true">Maria Korneeva via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“Failure, and How We Can Learn from It”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>When I was a high school teacher, I found plenty of joy and fulfillment in my work. But I also felt the sting of failure: from a student who remained disengaged throughout the semester, or even just from a lesson that went off the rails. Now I prepare aspiring K-12 teachers to navigate that messy reality themselves, and I’m struck by how tough it can be for them to develop the resilience necessary to work so hard and yet inevitably fall short of their goals.</p>
<p>So I began to wonder how other fields and professions might view failure. What resources do they draw upon? What common threads might exist that could help future teachers learn from failure more effectively?</p>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>We explore the role of failure in a wide range of fields, and how what counts as failure varies as well. A bridge collapsing is pretty clear, and maybe a business that goes bankrupt. But what about a team losing or a patient dying? We also consider what mechanisms and strategies these fields employ in responding to failure, and the ways in which they see failure as part of the learning and achievement process.</p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>As the semester unfolds, students begin to recognize that success and failure aren’t neat and simple categories. At its best, this course helps them understand how failure will be an ongoing presence in their lives. That means they need to figure out how to restructure their relationship with failure, rather than anticipate a time when they’ve finally and fully succeeded.</p>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<p>The most compelling elements of the course are the guest speakers from the various professions that we explore. Their honesty about their own struggles – and their willingness to avoid simplistic cliches about simply trying harder – offer my students insight and encouragement in their own journeys. </p>
<p>For instance, a doctor working on Los Angeles’ Skid Row – an area known for poverty and makeshift housing – describes how she navigates overwhelming need and the inability to heal many of her patients. A professional mediator explains how he deals with complex dynamics in relationships in search of compromise between the parties. Every single speaker is a portrait of someone who continues to fail, learn and grow.</p>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>We look at how to evaluate risk more accurately, and how to develop a mindset that views failure as part of the growth process. Persistence is vital, but rarely sufficient. They learn the value of focusing less on the simplistic categories of failure and success and focusing more on making good decisions, evaluating outcomes, responding thoughtfully and maintaining perspective about what they can’t control.</p>
<p>The course is offered through the honors college at the university where I teach. It draws students from a variety of majors.</p>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>When is it not relevant? A major theme of the course is that if people play it safe and never take any chances, they may be able to avoid failure, but they may also miss out on opportunities to learn and grow. When they reinterpret the significance of failure and make room for its presence, possibilities for learning and growth emerge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193369/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Kunzman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Avoiding failure by playing it safe may limit opportunities for learning and growth.
Robert Kunzman, Professor of Curriculum Studies and Philosophy of Education, Indiana University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/165131
2021-07-28T18:12:19Z
2021-07-28T18:12:19Z
Does testosterone drive success in men? Not much, our research suggests
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413158/original/file-20210726-23-252qvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C5%2C997%2C480&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not quite what the science says. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/playful-caucasian-business-people-work-place-1620124252">UfaBizPhoto/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s a widespread belief that your testosterone can affect where you end up in life. At least for men, there is some evidence for this claim: several studies have linked higher testosterone to socioeconomic success. But a link is different to a cause and using DNA, our new <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf8257">research</a> suggests it may be much less important for life chances than previously claimed.</p>
<p>In previous studies, male <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26302434">executives</a> with higher testosterone have been found to have more subordinates, and financial traders with higher testosterone found to generate greater daily <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/105/16/6167">profits</a>. Testosterone has been found to be higher among more highly <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4686046">educated</a> men, and among <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2664">self-employed</a> men, suggesting a link with entrepreneurship. Much less is known about these relationships in women, but one study suggested that for women, disadvantaged socioeconomic position in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4686046">childhood</a> was linked to higher testosterone later in life.</p>
<p>The beneficial influence of testosterone is thought to work by affecting behaviour: experiments suggest that testosterone can make a person more <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/41/11633">aggressive</a> and more <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep11206">risk tolerant</a>, and these traits can be rewarded in the labour market, for instance in wage negotiations. But none of these studies show definitively that testosterone influences these outcomes because there are other plausible explanations. </p>
<p>Rather than testosterone influencing a person’s socioeconomic position, it could be that having a more advantaged socioeconomic position raises your testosterone. In both cases, we would see a link between testosterone and social factors such as income, education and social class. </p>
<p>There are plausible mechanisms for this too. First, we know that socioeconomic disadvantage is stressful, and chronic stress can <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938408000954?via%3Dihub">lower testosterone</a>. Second, how a person perceives their status relative to others in society might influence their testosterone: studies of sports matches, usually between men, have often found that testosterone <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27720891/">rises in the winner</a> compared to the loser.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Older man holds head in front of a computer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413159/original/file-20210726-21-197i1au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413159/original/file-20210726-21-197i1au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413159/original/file-20210726-21-197i1au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413159/original/file-20210726-21-197i1au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413159/original/file-20210726-21-197i1au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413159/original/file-20210726-21-197i1au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413159/original/file-20210726-21-197i1au.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chronic stress can lower your testosterone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/stressed-man-working-desk-busy-creative-130607537">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s also possible that some third factor is responsible for the associations seen in previous studies. For instance, higher testosterone in men is linked to good <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26846952/">health</a> – and good health may also help people succeed in their careers. A link in men between testosterone and socioeconomic position could therefore simply reflect an impact of health on both. (For women, higher testosterone is linked to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20090761/">worse</a> health, so we would expect an association of higher testosterone and lower socioeconomic position.)</p>
<h2>Look at it this way</h2>
<p>It is very difficult to pick apart these processes and study just the effects of testosterone on other things. With this goal in mind, we applied a causal inference approach called “Mendelian randomisation”. This uses genetic information relevant to a single factor (here, testosterone) to isolate just the effect of that factor on one or more outcomes of interest (here, socioeconomic outcomes such as income and educational qualifications).</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413160/original/file-20210726-22-8vvsyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="DNA visualisation with coloured bars" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413160/original/file-20210726-22-8vvsyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413160/original/file-20210726-22-8vvsyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413160/original/file-20210726-22-8vvsyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413160/original/file-20210726-22-8vvsyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413160/original/file-20210726-22-8vvsyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413160/original/file-20210726-22-8vvsyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413160/original/file-20210726-22-8vvsyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">DNA can tell us a lot about our relationship with testosterone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/big-genomic-data-visualization-dna-test-1102537814">Zita/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A person’s circulating testosterone can be affected by environmental factors. Some, like the time of day, are straightforward to correct for. Others, like somebody’s health, are not. Crucially, socioeconomic circumstances could influence circulating testosterone. For this reason, even if we see an association between circulating testosterone and socioeconomic position, we cannot determine what is causing what. </p>
<p>This is why genetic information is powerful: your DNA is determined before birth and generally does not change during your lifetime (there are rare exceptions, such as changes which occur with cancer). Therefore, if we observe an association of socioeconomic position with genetic variants linked to testosterone, it strongly suggests that testosterone is causing the differences in socioeconomic outcomes. This is because influence on the variants of other factors is much less likely.</p>
<p>In more than 300,000 adult participants of the <a href="https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/">UK Biobank</a>, we identified genetic variants linked to higher testosterone levels, separately for men and women. We then explored how these variants were related to socioeconomic outcomes, including income, educational qualifications, employment status, and area-level deprivation, as well as self-reported risk-taking and overall health.</p>
<p>Similar to previous studies, we found that men with higher testosterone had higher household income, lived in less deprived areas, and were more likely to have a university degree and a skilled job. In women, higher testosterone was linked to lower socioeconomic position, including lower household income, living in a more deprived area, and lower chance of having a university degree. Consistent with previous evidence, higher testosterone was associated with better health for men and poorer health for women, and more risk-taking for men.</p>
<p>However, there was little evidence that genetic variation related to testosterone affected socioeconomic position at all. In both men and women we detected no effects of genetic variants related to testosterone on any aspect of socioeconomic position, or health, or risk-taking. </p>
<p>Because we identified fewer testosterone-linked genetic variants in women, our estimates for women were less precise than for men. Consequently, we could not rule out relatively small effects of testosterone on socioeconomic position for women. Future studies could examine associations in women using larger, female-specific samples.</p>
<p>But for men, our genetic results clearly suggest that previous studies may have been biased by the influence of additional factors, potentially including the impact of socioeconomic position on testosterone. And our results indicate that – despite the social mythology surrounding testosterone – it may be much less important for success and life chances than earlier studies have suggested.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165131/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Hughes receives funding from the Health Foundation and the Medical Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Davies works in a unit that receives support from the University of Bristol and the UK Medical Research Council, and NMD is also supported by a Norwegian Research Council Grant number and the Health Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Harrison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
New research suggests that despite the social mythology that surrounds testosterone in men, it may be much less important for life chances than previously thought.
Amanda Hughes, Senior Research Associate in Epidemiology, University of Bristol
Neil Davies, Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol
Sean Harrison, Systematic Reviewer, University of Bristol
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/143876
2020-09-15T19:28:25Z
2020-09-15T19:28:25Z
To be a great innovator, learn to embrace and thrive in uncertainty
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357546/original/file-20200910-21-64uoh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=134%2C114%2C4055%2C2761&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Innovators are comfortable dealing with uncertainty. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/lost-and-confused-businessman-walking-in-meadow-royalty-free-image/1181272310?adppopup=true">Gremlin/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Madam C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, was America’s first <a href="https://theconversation.com/netflixs-self-made-miniseries-about-madam-c-j-walker-leaves-out-the-mark-she-made-through-generosity-132848">female self-made millionaire</a>. She pioneered a line of hair care and beauty products for people of color early in the 20th century, and the recent Netflix series “Self Made” details the story of this talented innovator and the challenges she overcame on the way to her success.</p>
<p>To accomplish her goals, she had to face overwhelming uncertainties. How would she finance her business? Would her partnerships fail? Would her products sell? Would ruthless competition and racism get in her way? Madame Walker’s future was far from certain when she began her journey, but that did not dissuade her.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358220/original/file-20200915-24-194sryj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A historical photo of Madam C.J. Walker" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358220/original/file-20200915-24-194sryj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358220/original/file-20200915-24-194sryj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358220/original/file-20200915-24-194sryj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358220/original/file-20200915-24-194sryj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358220/original/file-20200915-24-194sryj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358220/original/file-20200915-24-194sryj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358220/original/file-20200915-24-194sryj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1110&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Madam Walker was willing and able to face uncertain situations as she grew her business.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker#/media/File:Madam_CJ_Walker_face_circa_1914.jpg">The Smithsonian via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is tempting to think that innovators are a breed apart or perhaps lucky to be in the right place and time. But research shows this is not the case. So what characteristics do innovators like Madam Walker have that lead them to the seemingly serendipitous moment? What makes for a successful innovator or entrepreneur? </p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=qxpLL24AAAAJ">researcher and professor</a> who studies strategy and entrepreneurship. I am also myself an entrepreneur, angel investor and board member for startups and innovative firms. Pop culture might have you believe it is a tolerance for or even an obsession with risk that makes great innovators. But in fact, research has for decades demonstrated that innovators and entrepreneurs are <a href="https://hbr.org/2009/12/the-innovators-dna">no more risk-taking than the average person</a>.</p>
<p>Generally, innovators are much more comfortable making decisions under conditions of uncertainty than the average person. Additionally, innovators tend to have a set of skills that allows them to better navigate this uncertainty. My experience and research has shown that not only are these abilities effective, but they can also be learned and practiced and anyone can improve their innovation skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357548/original/file-20200910-14-srmeoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dice with different numbers of sides of different colors." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357548/original/file-20200910-14-srmeoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357548/original/file-20200910-14-srmeoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357548/original/file-20200910-14-srmeoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357548/original/file-20200910-14-srmeoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357548/original/file-20200910-14-srmeoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357548/original/file-20200910-14-srmeoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357548/original/file-20200910-14-srmeoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With dice, the risks are known but out of your control.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice#/media/File:Dice_(typical_role_playing_game_dice).jpg">Diacritica via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What is risk? What is uncertainty?</h2>
<p>Risk is when the factors determining success or failure are out of your control but the odds of success are known – a game of dice, for example. You can’t control whether a 2 or a 12 is rolled, but you know the odds.</p>
<p>Uncertainty is when the factors determining success or failure are not necessarily out of your control, but are simply unknown. It is accepting a challenge to play a game that you do not completely know the rules of. Innovators tend to be more willing to venture into the unknown, and therefore are more likely to engage in ambitious projects even when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0149206305279486">outcomes and probabilities</a> are a mystery.</p>
<p>Interestingly, risk and uncertainty appear to trigger <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00927">activity in different parts of the brain</a>. Functional magnetic resonance imaging has allowed researchers to discover that risk analysis is a largely rational and calculation-driven process, but uncertainty triggers the ancient fight-or-flight part of the brain. This research would suggest that experienced innovators are better able to maintain their analytical capabilities in spite of the adrenaline and instinctual response that arises when confronting uncertainty.</p>
<p>Innovators don’t ignore risk; they are just better able to analyze it in uncertain situations.</p>
<h2>Skills of innovation can be learned</h2>
<p>The chemical response to risk and uncertainty may be hardwired in our brains, but that doesn’t mean you are either born an innovator or not. Innovative capacity can be learned. </p>
<p>Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and the late Clay Christensen spent years investigating the characteristics of successful innovators and broadly divide the skills of innovation into two categories: <a href="https://hbr.org/2009/12/the-innovators-dna">delivery skills and discovery skills</a>. </p>
<p>Delivery skills include quantitative analysis, planning, detail-oriented implementation and disciplined execution. These are certainly essential characteristics for success in many occupations, but for innovation, discovery must come before delivery.</p>
<p>Discovery skills are the ones more involved in developing ideas and managing uncertain situations. The most notable are:</p>
<ul>
<li>The ability to draw connections between seemingly disparate ideas and contexts.</li>
<li>A tendency to question assumptions and the status quo. </li>
<li>A habit of looking at what is contributing to a problem before rushing to a solution.</li>
<li>The frequent use of systematic experimentation to prove hypotheses about cause and effect. </li>
<li>The ability to network and broaden a set of relationships, even without an intentional purpose. </li>
</ul>
<p>Like any skills, these can be learned and cultivated through a combination of guidance, practice and experience. By asking the right questions, being observant or mindful, experimenting and networking with the right supporters, innovators will be more likely to identify opportunity and succeed.</p>
<p>My colleagues’ and my own research and experience are summed up in our book “<a href="https://www.titaniceffect.com">The Titanic Effect</a>.” We describe the PEP model of successful entrepreneurs and innovators. It stands for passion, experience and persistence. </p>
<p>Successful innovators are passionate about the problem they are solving and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1212">share this passion</a> with friends and family, potential customers, supporters and other stakeholders. </p>
<p>Innovators also tend to have personal experience with the problem they are solving, and this yields valuable insight and firsthand knowledge.</p>
<p>Finally, innovation takes persistence. As Walker experienced, growing a business – even with proven products – does not happen overnight. It takes someone willing to push the boulder uphill to make it happen, and often, the more disruptive the innovation, the longer society may take to embrace it. Madam Walker amply <a href="https://www.titaniceffect.com/blog/2020/7/17/self-madewhat-can-startups-learn-from-madam-cj-walker">personifies the PEP model</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357549/original/file-20200910-18-1rvs6q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A nurse setting up a telehealth appointment for an older man in his home." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357549/original/file-20200910-18-1rvs6q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357549/original/file-20200910-18-1rvs6q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357549/original/file-20200910-18-1rvs6q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357549/original/file-20200910-18-1rvs6q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357549/original/file-20200910-18-1rvs6q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357549/original/file-20200910-18-1rvs6q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357549/original/file-20200910-18-1rvs6q2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The pandemic has created dozens of new problems in need of innovative solutions, like telehealth, which has seen a huge boom in use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Hospital-At-Home/3daf186c41be4dc0a715f759a45929f8/5/0">AP Photo/Elise Amendola</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Innovation now and in the future</h2>
<p>During this pandemic, many people might be inclined to batten down the hatches, tighten their belts and ride things out by sticking to what they already know.</p>
<p>But uncertainty and change create opportunity and a <a href="https://store.hbr.org/product/the-innovator-s-solution-creating-and-sustaining-successful-growth/16444">need for innovation</a>. The pandemic has created or exacerbated many problems that are ripe for innovative solutions.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Practices that were until recently on the fringe of acceptance – such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-telemedicine-is-great-when-you-want-to-stay-distant-from-your-doctor-but-older-laws-are-standing-in-the-way-134885">telehealth</a>, food or grocery delivery, <a href="https://theconversation.com/chess-is-taking-over-the-online-video-game-world-and-both-are-changing-from-this-unlikely-pairing-143790">e-sports</a> and online education – are now being accepted by mainstream society. As with anything relatively new, there is lots of room for radical improvement.</p>
<p>Now is not the time to put blinders on and close your eyes to uncertainty. If you build your discovery skills, you are more likely to create opportunity and persist through uncertainty. Like Walker, anyone can cultivate the abilities to navigate uncertainty and create positive change. Innovators are not a breed apart.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Todd Saxton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Many great innovators have personality traits in common. Comfort with uncertainty is critical, but passion, curiosity and a number of other learnable skills can prime you for an innovate idea.
Todd Saxton, Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, IUPUI
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/130843
2020-02-03T12:57:14Z
2020-02-03T12:57:14Z
Huge success in business is largely based on luck – new research
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313278/original/file-20200203-41532-p0qdkw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-dice-laying-over-pile-money-79422970">Shutterstock/FotograFFF</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bestselling business books promise to teach you the winning formula and reveal the secrets of success. But the inconvenient truth is that exceptional successes in business are largely based on luck. No rule exists for achieving exceptional performance because it usually requires doing something different or novel and there can be no recipe for such innovation. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Luck-Business-Idea-Ideas-Management/dp/1138094269/ref=sr_1_1">My new research</a> provides systematic evidence that luck plays a critical role in such performance, not only in business but also in music, movies, science and professional sports. A key finding is that more can be gained by paying more attention to “second best”. </p>
<p>Let’s look at the music industry. If a new band or musician has a top-20 hit, should a music label immediately try to sign them? <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/AMBPP.2018.19">My analysis</a> of 8,297 acts in the US Billboard 100 from 1980 to 2008 would suggest not. Music label bosses should instead be looking to sign up those reaching positions between 22 and 30, the “second best” in the charts.</p>
<p>A common feature of many artists charting in the top ranks is that they enjoyed a “runaway success”. A classic example is Gangnam Style by Korean artist PSY. The music video went viral beyond anyone’s foresight. Since such an outcome involved exceptional luck, PSY’s success is unsustainable. In fact, artists charting in the top 20 will likely see their next single achieve between 40 and 45 on average, regressing disproportionally more to the mean than their lower performing counterparts. </p>
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<p>Those charting between 22 and 30, meanwhile, have the highest predicted future rank for their next single. Their less exceptional performances suggests that their successes depends less on luck, making their performances a more reliable predictor of their merit as well as future performances. This is where music label bosses will find the hidden gems.</p>
<p>The same happens in the business world. For example, the fastest growing firms – such as those on <a href="https://fortune.com/100-fastest-growing-companies/">Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies list</a> – usually attract the most media attention, investment and imitation. My results show that the consecutive-year growth rates of firms are almost random but a systematic “less-is-more effect” can occur.</p>
<p>So businesses with the top current growth rate (more than 34% per annum) have a significantly lower expected growth rate next year than firms with a high but less extreme current growth rate (between 32% and 34% per annum). This suggests that top performers are not only luckier than the rest, but also become predictably worse. </p>
<p>However, selling the problematic idea of learning from the most successful continues to prosper. For example, many business bestsellers, such as <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Excellence-Americas-Best-Run-Companies/dp/1781253404/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1DAVS3BVBW0A7&keywords=in+search+of+excellence&qid=1580378402&s=books&sprefix=in+search+of+ex%2Cstripbooks%2C271&sr=1-1">In Search of Excellence</a>, the most widely owned book in the US between 1986 and 2006, share a formula. First, select a few successful firms that beat the odds and achieve excellence. Then analyse the shared practices of these firms from when they moved from “good to great” and frame these practices as the principles for others that aspire to become great.</p>
<p>An overlooked caveat is that the exceptional performances featured in these bestsellers typically do not last. Take the 50 firms featured in the three most popular business bestsellers: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Excellence-Americas-Best-Run-Companies/dp/1781253404/">In Search of Excellence</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Collins-Takeaways-Analysis-Review/dp/1944195807/">Good to Great</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Built-Last-Successful-Visionary-Companies/dp/1844135845/">Built to Last</a>. My research <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Luck-Business-Idea-Ideas-Management/dp/1138094269/">shows that</a> the significant improvements of these firms (good to great) before being featured were followed by systematic disappointments. Of the 50, 16 failed within five years after the books were published and 23 became mediocre as they under-performed in the <a href="https://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/sp-500">S&P 500 index</a> (which represents the average performance expectation of the 500 largest public companies in the US). </p>
<p>Only five out of the remaining 11 firms maintained a similar level of excellence compared to when they were featured in the books. What happened after becoming great is clearly not enduring greatness but, instead, strong regression to the average.</p>
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<p>Nevertheless, such a misleading “success formula” is still very popular in business media and education. There is a growing number of lists that feature top-performing <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fortune-100.asp">firms</a>, <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/11/the-best-performing-ceos-in-the-world-2018">CEOs</a> and <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/321571">entrepreneurs</a>. One possible reason for this may be a fundamental paradox in human behaviour: the more uncertain the world becomes, the more people seek out and rely on seemingly <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Effect-Business-Delusions-Deceive-Managers/dp/1476784035/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=halo+effect&qid=1580379168&s=books&sr=1-1">certain solutions and strong leaders</a>.</p>
<h2>The business of luck</h2>
<p>Management research and education should focus on prescriptive theories that can help business practitioners move from “incompetent to OK”, rather than focusing on those that address how to move from “good to great”. But current management theories and many business management bestsellers focus on the latter, even though being “great” in business is often primarily a matter of luck. </p>
<p>Such reference to luck is rare in management research. <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Luck-Business-Idea-Ideas-Management/dp/1138094269">A review</a> of the use of luck in <a href="http://aom.org/Publications/AMJ/Welcome-to-AMJ.aspx">leading management journals</a> suggests that only 2% of articles mention the word. Business media and educators need to acknowledge that we have a lot of offer to help practitioners to make fewer mistakes in business and everyday life, but there is little we can teach about how to become exceptionally successful. </p>
<p>This poses a challenge to modern societies regarding how to deal with successes. We are hardwired to reward and imitate the most successful. But when the most successful in modern societies are no longer a reliable benchmark, overlooking such a mismatch sees us continuing to reward their luck and augment the inequality.</p>
<p><a href="https://hbr.org/2004/05/the-risky-business-of-hiring-stars">Hiring “stars”</a> or copying the practices of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/323039?seq=1">the most successful</a> not only leads to predicable disappointment but also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Leeson">encourage cheating</a> because there is no other way to replicate their exceptional good luck. The business world needs to balance the accounts of exceptional performance and take a far more judgemental look at the <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Luck-Business-Idea-Ideas-Management/dp/1138094269/ref=sr_1_1">effects of luck</a> and the benefits of being second – or even third or fourth – best. Blindly rewarding successes strengthens the myth of meritocracy and invites fraud.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chengwei Liu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Ignore business books which promise to reveal the secret formula of success – usually it’s down to luck.
Chengwei Liu, Associate Professor of Strategy and Behavioural Science, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/121422
2019-08-15T23:06:21Z
2019-08-15T23:06:21Z
Technology start-ups that fail fast succeed faster
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288217/original/file-20190815-136213-fnnnhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C0%2C5472%2C3620&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It took Thomas Edison countless failures before he succeeded in developing a marketable lightbulb.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Failure rates of new technology-based companies are shockingly high. It is estimated that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443720204578004980476429190">75 per cent of technology start-ups do not generate profits</a>. Other data suggests upwards of <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/09/25/why-startups-fail-according-to-their-founders/">90 per cent of new technology enterprises completely fail.</a> </p>
<p>However, some failures of products or technologies have been positive and lead to success. It took Thomas Edison <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/why-creativity-is-a-numbers-game/">thousands of attempts before he succeeded</a> with his lightbulb design. Although learning from failure has been described as <a href="https://hbr.org/2011/04/strategies-for-learning-from-failure">critical to the success of technology-based start-ups</a>, there is little existing research that supports this claim.</p>
<p>Strategic management scholars have described and found support for a number of organizational <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250100107">philosophies</a>, <a href="http://doi.org/10.2307/1251757">behaviours</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F002224299806200403">strategies</a> that promote business success. </p>
<p>However, little attention has been paid to empirically validating the strategies that pertain to learning from failure in technology-intensive industries. </p>
<p>My interest in this topic came from working as a manager for a global biotechnology company. When creating novel innovations, their organizational mantra was simple: fail fast to succeed faster. After joining the faculty of <a href="https://edwards.usask.ca/">Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan</a>, I wanted to explore if other technology-based start-ups employed this failure learning strategy and how it influenced their performance. This topic is an ongoing area of my research and relates to the technology commercialization and venture development courses I teach.</p>
<h2>Failure can produce success</h2>
<p>In my article published in the <em>Journal of High Technology Management Research</em>, I explored <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hitech.2019.100352">commonalities of 120 leading Canadian technology start-ups</a>. I found that those with organizational commitments to learning from failure realized greater scientific output, raised more capital, filed more new patents, developed novel innovations and achieved greater scientific milestones as compared to other start-ups.</p>
<p>Specifically, firms with what I called a “failure learning orientation” encouraged employees to openly discuss failures, sought to understand why the failure occurred as opposed to who was responsible, prioritized learning from the failure over any other activity, and strategized how to move forward after failure. The relationship between failure learning orientation and how well a company performed suggested that this strategy could be viable for technology-based start-ups.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288236/original/file-20190815-136208-1y9idow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288236/original/file-20190815-136208-1y9idow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288236/original/file-20190815-136208-1y9idow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288236/original/file-20190815-136208-1y9idow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288236/original/file-20190815-136208-1y9idow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288236/original/file-20190815-136208-1y9idow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288236/original/file-20190815-136208-1y9idow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288236/original/file-20190815-136208-1y9idow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Building strategic alliances and seeking to understand how and why failures occur are indicators of how well a technology start-up company will perform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Discovering desires, creating collaborations</h2>
<p>Another commonality of leading firms pertained to their capacity to understand the desires of customers in their respective markets. Not surprisingly, how they understood customers and competitors was found to be an important determinant of success. </p>
<p>However, it was not as critical to the early stages of technology development as failure learning orientation or the ability to secure partnerships with other firms. These partnerships were described as non-competitive strategic alliances aimed at achieving mutually beneficial goals. For example, performance was positively impacted if a firm that had a great product but lacked marketing expertise was successful in finding a partner that could assist with product promotion. </p>
<p>The combination that yielded the greatest performance effect was employing a learning from failure strategy and effectively searching, managing and coordinating complementary strategic alliances. </p>
<h2>Positive strategies</h2>
<p>These findings have significant implications for executives and managers of technology-based start-ups as they offer strategies to improve performance in highly competitive industries. The study confirms the importance of previously established strategies such as market knowledge management.</p>
<p>More importantly, the study showed that strategic alliance management and learning from failure may be viable strategies for technology ventures. Most notably, the study offers a new perspective that celebrates failures. </p>
<p>Businesses may wish to emphasize the positive outcomes from failures such as learning rather than blame, as it pays to do so. It is this supportive culture that fosters innovation driven by learning from past steps that are common to the leading Canadian technology-based new ventures.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121422/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grant Alexander Wilson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Canadian technology start-ups that incorporate an approach that learns from failure tend to perform and innovate with greater success than start-ups that seek to assign blame.
Grant Alexander Wilson, Department of Management & Marketing, Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/118025
2019-06-06T09:32:10Z
2019-06-06T09:32:10Z
What rowing across the Atlantic can teach you about navigating the working world
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277596/original/file-20190603-69059-1bwmqf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Toby Gould was both excited and petrified on the morning of December 12, 2018. He and the three other non-professional rowers in his team were due to set off from La Gomera in the Canary Islands in a rowing boat equipped with only as much kit and freeze-dried food as a 29 x 6 foot boat can carry. Ahead of them lay 3,000 miles of ocean before they would reach their finishing point across the Atlantic. </p>
<p>The 39-year-old – who normally works as deputy head of resilience at London Fire Brigade – said: “We are buzzing, we are ready to go; we are not thinking about anything else.” The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge is seen as the world’s toughest row.</p>
<p>The rest of the team consisted of Jeremy Reynolds, 41, a former British Army soldier who now works as London resilience manager at London Fire Brigade; Alison Wannell, 40, the only female crew member and a qualified lawyer; and Justin Coleman, 53, a stand-up comedian. An hour before the race started, Gould posted a video saying: “We had a look at the forecasts. We are looking at three-metre waves from the off this afternoon. That’s scary!”</p>
<p>Fifty days, 22 hours and 38 minutes later, they arrived in English Harbour in Antigua. The race had tested them to their limits. The team of four had spent Christmas and New Year at sea, battling severe seasickness, equipment failure and sleep deprivation to the extent one was convinced he’d seen a spaceship. But as well as the lows, there were highs: the sunrises and sunsets, wildlife encounters, and the shared camaraderie an extreme sporting challenge can bring.</p>
<p>Over the 50 days, I followed the team closely, analysing their triumphs and their difficulties through video diaries. I also carried out interviews after the race. This project was a bit out of the ordinary for me (I research business leadership) but I wanted to see whether this extreme example of a team effort could tell us anything about the workplace.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277604/original/file-20190603-69079-enc1gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277604/original/file-20190603-69079-enc1gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277604/original/file-20190603-69079-enc1gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277604/original/file-20190603-69079-enc1gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277604/original/file-20190603-69079-enc1gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277604/original/file-20190603-69079-enc1gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277604/original/file-20190603-69079-enc1gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Christmas day at sea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Heads Together and Row</span></span>
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<h2>Rowing business</h2>
<p>In today’s turbulent business world, teams frequently face uncertainty and challenges and consequently are prone to impaired performance. Whether in life, business or a fierce mid-Atlantic storm, resilience enables us to deal with stress and overcome adversity.</p>
<p>Personal resilience is the ability to cope with adversity: are you able to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0170840618782294">bounce back</a> to high performance levels after a struggle? We know that teams performing in extreme environments do not perform in the same way as in “normal” settings due to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053482217300025">heightened stress</a>. Stress makes solving complex tasks difficult, leads to negative emotions, such as fear, which leads to impairment of personal performance and strains the relationships in the team. But resilient teams <a href="https://hbr.org/2002/05/how-resilience-works">struggle well together</a>. When facing adversity, they work through rather than avoid difficulties. </p>
<p>I found – luckily – that the rowing team did indeed work well together. They solved tricky issues like a steering autohelm that started continuously breaking and supported each other emotionally through long dark nights and torrential rain. At one point, one team member reported:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We had a cargo ship coming over the hill and we had to react to that, getting on the radio and making sure they weren’t going to run us over. Then we had a water leak alarm going off. There wasn’t a water leak, but the alarm was going off, and I had to dig that out, and that sort of thing. Then we were having problems for the third time with the autohelm, and the guys out on the oars kept getting spun around by the wind.</p>
</blockquote>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277870/original/file-20190604-69067-1a5t9ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277870/original/file-20190604-69067-1a5t9ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277870/original/file-20190604-69067-1a5t9ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277870/original/file-20190604-69067-1a5t9ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277870/original/file-20190604-69067-1a5t9ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277870/original/file-20190604-69067-1a5t9ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277870/original/file-20190604-69067-1a5t9ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ali and Justin on day 26.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Heads Together and Row</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although a 3,000-mile race across the Atlantic featuring threatening cargo ships and torrential rain may seem a world away from your workplace stresses, there are lessons to be learned from this extreme example. So for anyone navigating the challenges of the working world, here is some advice:</p>
<h2>Five lessons</h2>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>Get into a routine.</strong> Settling into a familiar pattern of working was one particular coping mechanism used by the team, to great success. One rower noted that: “Resilience is gradually getting higher as I get into a routine on the boat, and I can see us making progress.”</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Focus on the goal</strong>. Concentrating on the task at hand – either in the positive sense (that completing the race would be an achievement), or the more negative sense (that there is no other way to reach the goal) – helped all of the rowers. “The only way of getting through this is getting the rowing done. So I could lie in bed, but I certainly wouldn’t get home faster; I’d get home a lot slower, which is how I’ve had to cope with it,” one rower observed.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Take time out.</strong> Removing yourself from the situation for a time can help you to recharge and cope with stress. Although confined within a small space on the boat, one rower would imagine themselves in their “happy place” to recharge their batteries and “return” to the race with perspective.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Create a sense of control.</strong> Creating guiding and protective structures can help, so that you don’t feel overwhelmed. One rower described that finding out just exactly where they were geographically, in the middle of an ocean, was a terrifying thought as what was going around them was so unpredictable. So building up secure processes and structures of working as a team and focusing on managing challenges on the boat was a good mechanism for creating a sense of control.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Seek support from others.</strong> Being able to lean on each other and offer support when times are tough is a key skill in any venture. The team support network helped the rowers work through the challenges they faced. In one diary recording, a rower observed: “Everyone is doing great things, helping and being supportive of each other.”</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277871/original/file-20190604-69095-w50jem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277871/original/file-20190604-69095-w50jem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277871/original/file-20190604-69095-w50jem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277871/original/file-20190604-69095-w50jem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277871/original/file-20190604-69095-w50jem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277871/original/file-20190604-69095-w50jem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277871/original/file-20190604-69095-w50jem.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeremy and Toby eating breakfast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Heads Together and Row</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite the coping mechanisms that the four rowers developed, their resilience levels varied drastically throughout the race. Close to the finish line, they had the most challenging part ahead of them. Their mental and physical resources had been tested for weeks and they were both physically and mentally exhausted. Nevertheless, they had to find the motivation to give everything they had left to finally reach the finish line. </p>
<p>Resilience is similarly key in today’s dynamic and challenging world of work, which continuously throws new challenges at us. Working on ways to improve resilience is therefore very important for success – whether your own, or that of your company.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118025/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Rook does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
I wanted to see whether this extreme example of a team effort could tell us anything about the workplace.
Caroline Rook, Lecturer in Leadership, Henley Business School, University of Reading
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/112496
2019-03-19T22:21:23Z
2019-03-19T22:21:23Z
Federal budget: Most government programs fail, but there are strategies for success
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264751/original/file-20190319-60986-1c6h7lx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People sift through the 2019 Canadian budget. Will the promised programs be implemented successfully?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-federal-budget-2019-liberals-unveil-23-billion-in-new-spending-aimed/">In its federal budget</a>, Canada’s Liberal government announced plans to create a Canadian Drug Agency to reduce the costs of drugs for Canadians and to expand a program to create 40,000 work placements for students within five years, among other initiatives.</p>
<p>But the documented litany of failures by governments of all levels, far and wide, to effectively implement policy and build programs and infrastructure doesn’t always provide much hope for the future. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-governments-are-so-bad-at-implementing-public-projects-111223">Why governments are so bad at implementing public projects</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Are governments bound to chronically fail, go over-budget or botch the big projects necessary to make major policy changes and introduce new systems or infrastructure to the public? There’s a mountain of research suggesting government projects routinely fail in Canada, the United States and Great Britain.</p>
<p>But now let’s look at a list of key success factors gleaned from the research into failure.</p>
<h2>1. Sticky governance</h2>
<p>This is more than setting up an oversight process for major implementations. It’s about avoiding the turnover of project leadership, running the project in a consistent way over time and sticking to the objective. </p>
<p>This takes not just dedicated staff — that’s a given — but also a consistent oversight by the real owner of the project. That means regular executive review, real challenges built into the system to protect everyone and an effective and speedy way to make decisions.</p>
<h2>2. Multiple-channel risk analysis</h2>
<p>A common theme in major implementation failure is that the whole team and organization was working in an echo chamber when it came to risks. </p>
<p>In major implementations, risk abounds since there are so many unknowns. This is new territory much of the time. And so effective risk management is key to dealing with those inevitable twists and turns of doing something differently. So many stories of failure will feature the deliberate glossing over or ignoring of warning signs, mostly in the interest of time or pressure to produce. </p>
<p>As the U.K. National Audit <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp.../10320-001-Over-optimism-in-government-projects.pdf">points out in its 2013 study</a>: “The challenges of delivering government projects are compounded by the endemic over-optimism.”</p>
<p>Success is built on a clear understanding of the risks, gathered from a variety of sources, not just the echo chamber that reinforces your world view. That means looking for the <a href="http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/REQVAR.html">requisite variety</a> in both risk analysis and governance. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/64718818_Karl_E_Weick">As Karl Weick</a>, a University of Michigan scholar and student of organizational resilience, points out: “…organizations with access to more varied images will engage in <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c5ef/1af1d6b68ed0d97b7aa19de748550a379fa7.pdf">sense-making</a> that is more adaptive than will organizations with more limited vocabularies.”</p>
<p>What does that mean for success? You need an organizational <em>curmudgeon</em>. You need to ensure differing views are expressed and not published. You need to fight the tendency <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-groupthink-2795213">for groupthink.</a></p>
<h2>3. Test drive and shop around</h2>
<p>The arc of so many failures often starts with a solution in pursuit of a problem. Options for implementation are often ignored in favour the bright shiny object that will solve all the problems. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264657/original/file-20190319-60972-4pz14n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264657/original/file-20190319-60972-4pz14n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264657/original/file-20190319-60972-4pz14n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264657/original/file-20190319-60972-4pz14n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264657/original/file-20190319-60972-4pz14n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264657/original/file-20190319-60972-4pz14n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264657/original/file-20190319-60972-4pz14n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264657/original/file-20190319-60972-4pz14n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ontario Premier Doug Ford is seen with Health Minister Christine Elliott at an event in January 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Look at the recent announcement of a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/.../doug-ford-ontario-health-super-agency-lhin-cancer-care-1...">single health agency for Ontario</a>. Much is being promised but there is no clear link between the problems in health and the way the health-care system is organized. </p>
<p>Success seems to lie in the very difficult process of selecting the solution. Central to this effort is to have different perspectives at play and to try out the potential solutions before committing to them. </p>
<p>Part of the test drive is to engage both the end user of the new system or policy and the client as well. They are the two players who will remain when the big project is done. </p>
<p>The end user is the field staff or operational unit that actually has to operate the changed systems. The client is, of course, the beneficiary or recipient of the changes. </p>
<p>In fact, the end user, is often ignored until the solution has been designed. And the commitment to that sole solution is so unwavering that the people who actually have to make it work in the real world had little say.</p>
<p>So get those people involved at the planning and thinking stages. Their real-life experience is an absolute necessity.</p>
<h2>4. Bias recognition & the curmudgeon</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/cognitive-biases-complexity-enhancers-projects-1454">Cognitive biases</a> can often impinge clear thinking and cause people to ignore major warning signs.</p>
<p>Successful organizations build in many forms of the aforementioned curmudgeon, including process audits, end-user testing and feedback, client feedback and, most importantly, people who do not have a stake in either the favoured solutions or just pleasing the boss. </p>
<p>But it’s critical that the boss commits to protecting them if their input is negative. </p>
<h2>5. Memory capture as a survival tool</h2>
<p>Failure has a familiar character to it. In fact, many organizations seem doomed to a Groundhog Day existence of one failure after another, with new teams, new directions and new resolutions not to make the same mistakes —and then proceeding to fail again.</p>
<p>Escaping that syndrome requires organizations to learn from their mistakes and successes. How many times have you heard someone say: “You really messed that up. Can you tell me what you did? How can we learn from that?” I’m guessing not often.</p>
<p>That’s because generally, people are running for cover. Too bad. There are a variety of ways to escape the syndrome. Unfortunately, in the public sector, there is also a tendency to avoid even admitting errors to avoid political embarrassment. </p>
<p>But organizations can and should build case studies of both their successes and failures. There are also structured debriefs of the type that first responders use to assess their performance. There are a variety of tools. The key is wanting to use them. </p>
<h2>Think small, then big</h2>
<p>If one theme is consistent in failure, it’s that the implementers took on too much, too soon, too fast, assuming their premises were right and would, when put out into the real world, stand up to that harsh climate. <a href="http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/att__e_43045.html">All studies of the Canadian government’s Phoenix pay system crash</a> point to the fast start, the removal of staff with expertise and the ramping-up of new staff and systems too quickly as central to the failure. </p>
<p>Many successful implementations, on the other hand, began as pilot projects, demonstration projects and localized start-ups that were then rolled out based on the lower-risk, less costly, less visible environment. A ready example of this approach is the successful implementation of <a href="https://educ.queensu.ca/.../SPEG%20Full%20Day%20Early%20Learning%20Kindergart...">full-day kindergarten in Ontario</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/full-day-kindergarten-the-best-of-what-we-imagined-is-happening-in-classrooms-112602">Full-day kindergarten — the best of what we imagined is happening in classrooms</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The rollout was staged. Many problems were handled as they occurred with a very responsive and consistent leadership team. The process was highly adaptive as new problems arose. </p>
<p>Implementing major policy changes or projects in government is a messy business. Starting with that understanding, adding a heavy dose of humility and learning from others is a good place to move closer to success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112496/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Graham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Here are some key factors of success to consider for western government taking on large projects – following these will help prevent the routine fails we often see.
Andrew Graham, Professor, Queen's University, Ontario
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/107404
2018-12-09T17:46:03Z
2018-12-09T17:46:03Z
The surprising role of childhood trauma in athletic success
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249548/original/file-20181209-128193-n02g8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canadian speed skater and cyclist Clara Hughes is the only athlete in history to win multiple medals at both winter and summer Olympic Games</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The story of Canadian speed skater and cyclist Clara Hughes, the first ever Olympian to win multiple medals in both the summer and winter games, is a story of triumph over adversity. <a href="https://www.thestar.com/sports/olympics/2010/01/29/clara_hughes_untold_story_wild_teen_to_olympic_champ.html">Before she was hard into endurance sports, she was hard into drinking and drugs</a> — a teenaged attempt to escape life at home with her father and his alcoholism.</p>
<p>British tennis player Andy Murray survived the 1996 massacre at Dunblane primary school in Scotland by hiding under a desk, aged eight. American gymnast Simone Biles spent her early childhood in the foster care system. Indeed, research suggests that many of the world’s greatest athletes may have similar stories of childhood adversity. </p>
<p>One study led by sport psychology professor Lew Hardy in the United Kingdom compared 16 Olympic champions against 16 non-medaling Olympians. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2017.03.004">All of the medalists were exposed to trauma as children</a> — including parental death or divorce, physical and verbal abuse or an unstable home environment — compared to only four of the non-medalists.</p>
<p>Having recently completed my PhD in sport psychology, I was surprised to learn that traumatic experiences may have a so-called silver lining in sport. In fact, these findings ran counter to everything I knew about <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/index.html">adverse childhood experiences</a> (ACEs). Abuse, neglect and household dysfunction before the age of 18 increase the risk of several negative health outcomes, including substance abuse, depression and obesity — not ideal ingredients for athletic success, it would seem.</p>
<p>Sport researchers and psychologists have grappled with the notion that “<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF03262302">talent needs trauma</a>” in recent years. The phrase has sparked debate over how trauma is defined, and the necessity of trauma for success in sport. </p>
<p>Perhaps more importantly, there’s been concern over how practitioners, such as talent scouts and coaches, may act on these findings — particularly considering recent revelations and allegations of extensive child abuse in sports, from <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/womens-gymnasts-found-their-voices-in-the-sports-darkest-hour/2018/11/20/0543e6f6-e46f-11e8-b759-3d88a5ce9e19_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4ce496045a8c">gymnastics in the United States</a> to soccer in places as far afield as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46453955">United Kingdom</a> and <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/afghan-women-s-soccer-team-accuses-officials-of-sexual-abuse-1.3721336">Afghanistan</a>.</p>
<h2>Learning from adversity</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, adverse childhood experiences are relatively common. According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/ace_brfss.html">U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, approximately 60 per cent of the population reports at least one ACE. </p>
<p>In contrast, the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association’s most recent data suggests that only <a href="http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/estimated-probability-competing-professional-athletics">one in 2,500 high school athletes will make it professionally</a>, and substantially fewer will ever win an Olympic gold medal. Clearly, trauma alone isn’t enough for athletic superstardom.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249175/original/file-20181206-186076-1jluh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249175/original/file-20181206-186076-1jluh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249175/original/file-20181206-186076-1jluh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249175/original/file-20181206-186076-1jluh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249175/original/file-20181206-186076-1jluh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249175/original/file-20181206-186076-1jluh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249175/original/file-20181206-186076-1jluh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">British tennis player Andy Murray was eight years old when he survived the 1996 massacre at Dunblane primary school in Scotland by hiding under a desk.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With this caveat in mind, a closer look at the research shows that it’s not the trauma itself that creates sports superstars — it’s what the athlete brings into and takes away from the experience, as well as opportunities to participate in a supportive sport environment. </p>
<p>Of particular note, the evidence suggests that “trauma” is not confined to abuse, neglect and household challenges. Other forms of adversity may produce this effect as well. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2016.11.009">While several studies have identified early non-sport traumas as critical periods of growth</a>, athletes have also described <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2014.06.010">injuries and other sport-related adversities</a> as key turning points that shaped future performance. </p>
<p>When faced with adversity — in sport or in life — the most successful athletes in these studies were the ones who were able to learn from and reflect on the experience. </p>
<h2>Natural instinct or post-traumatic growth?</h2>
<p>After analyzing the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2014.08.004">autobiographies of eight Olympic swimming champions</a> in 2015, sport psychology researchers Karen Howells and David Fletcher of Loughborough University described trauma as a “motivational trigger” that fuelled an intense will to win. </p>
<p>In addition, the Olympic champions and multiple medalists in Hardy’s study described experiences of childhood trauma that were followed by a positive sport-related event, such as finding an important coach, mentor or a sport in which they thrived. </p>
<p>Thus, both the ability to grow from trauma and opportunities to succeed in a supportive sport environment appear important for athletic success.</p>
<p>I should add that not all of the research conducted in this area supports these findings. In a 2016 study of 54 “super champions” (ranked in the top three in their sport internationally), “champions” (ranked in the top 40), and “almosts” (world junior medalists with no senior-level success), researchers <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02009">did not find any evidence that sport or life trauma was necessary for success</a>, nor could traumatic experiences be used to differentiate the groups. </p>
<p>Another study published in 2017 found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2016.1194910">20 elite athletes reported primarily sport-based trauma</a>, negotiated through innate psychological skills. In other words, these athletes were equipped with the skills to effectively traverse adversity before they faced it. </p>
<h2>Resilient athletes need challenge <em>and</em> support</h2>
<p>How do we make sense of this research? Are the best athletes in the world born with the psychological skills to succeed, or do they develop the mental tools for success through post-traumatic growth? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249202/original/file-20181206-128208-1exvix9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249202/original/file-20181206-128208-1exvix9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249202/original/file-20181206-128208-1exvix9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249202/original/file-20181206-128208-1exvix9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249202/original/file-20181206-128208-1exvix9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249202/original/file-20181206-128208-1exvix9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249202/original/file-20181206-128208-1exvix9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in American history. Biles’ biological mother was unable to care for her children, and they were involved with the foster care system from an early age. Biles was adopted at the age of six.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The way I see it, it’s a little bit of both. As a talent scout or coach, you can’t expect great things from an athlete just because they’ve had a hard life. There’s also no reason to thrust adversity upon someone with the assumption that they will benefit from the experience. </p>
<p>The best way to produce resilient athletes is to provide a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2016.1255496">challenging and supportive sport environment</a> — one where athletes feel physically and psychologically safe in their experiences of success and failure.</p>
<p>Trauma may present itself as a unique learning opportunity for some people, but is far from a recipe for global success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107404/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Veronica Allan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Canadian speed skater and cyclist Clara Hughes, British tennis player Andy Murray and American gymnast Simone Biles all have something in common: adverse childhood experiences.
Veronica Allan, Global Journalism Fellow, Munk School, University of Toronto
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/100183
2018-07-18T12:11:06Z
2018-07-18T12:11:06Z
Anthill 27: Confidence
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228180/original/file-20180718-142432-1hlbojd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/the-anthill/id1114423002">This episode of The Anthill podcast</a> digs into the concept of confidence. We start by finding out how scientists define confidence and how it works in the brain. </p>
<p>Producer Gemma Ware takes a <a href="http://confidence.success-equation.com/">confidence calibration</a> test with the help of psychologist Eva Krockow at the University of Leicester, who also shares some of her research findings on whether expressing confidence about something is a good marker of being right about it. And neuroscientist Dan Bang from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, helps explain how a person’s brain computes their level of confidence about certain tasks – and why we need to be aware of the variety in people’s levels of confidence when making decisions as a group. </p>
<p>Then we take a look at how confidence can get us ahead in life – and in the workplace especially. Can you really fake it until you make it? Westminster University’s Chantal Gautier shares some of the findings from her book, The Psychology of Work, where she interviewed a number of industry leaders to discover what it is that makes organisations successful. Confidence is important. But that includes the confidence to admit your shortcomings and ask for help when you need it, she says.</p>
<p>With numerous studies suggesting that men show more confidence than women, we also examine the extent that this explains the gender pay gap. Are women just not leaning in enough?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228187/original/file-20180718-142417-1d11air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228187/original/file-20180718-142417-1d11air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228187/original/file-20180718-142417-1d11air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228187/original/file-20180718-142417-1d11air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228187/original/file-20180718-142417-1d11air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228187/original/file-20180718-142417-1d11air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228187/original/file-20180718-142417-1d11air.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lean on in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1022439985?src=CzRL_43uH0AjfrrdkrT7Bw-1-28&size=medium_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recent <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2016/twerp_1127_oswald.pdf">research</a> by Amanda Goodall at Cass Business School found that women are actually asking for pay rises at the same rate as men. They’re just not getting them. She helps us unpick the idea that you can fake it ‘til you make it and explains why leaders that are real experts in their field are better than those who aren’t.</p>
<p>Lastly, we turn to the dark side of confidence. The Conversation’s Holly Squire delves deep into the murky world of confidence tricksters, to find out what makes a con man (or woman) tick. Professional magician Gustav Kuhn at Goldsmiths University of London, details the deception involved in card trick scams. And Keith Brown from Bournemouth University explains the reality of financial scamming – and the terrible impact it can have on victims. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Anthill theme music is by Alex Grey for Melody Loops. The song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-6qbUHVww">“I Have Confidence”</a> is sung by Julie Andrews from the musical The Sound of Music by Rogers and Hammerstein. Music in the confidence definition segment is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7KZAoj4YH0&index=15&list=PLzCxunOM5WFLOaTRCzeGrODz8TWaLrbhv">Into the Clouds</a> by Nicolai Heidlas Music via YouTube.<br>
Music in the confidence trickster segment is <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/The_Scope/Kai_Engel_-_The_Scope_-_02_Cutrains_are_Always_Drawn">Curtains are Always Drawn</a> by Kai Engel, and <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Frank_Dorittke/Mare_Tranquillitatis/pcr018_cd01_10_fd_project_land_of_magic">Land of Magic</a> by Frank Dorittke from the Free Music Archive.</em> </p>
<p><em>Click here to listen to more episodes of The Anthill, on themes including <a href="https://theconversation.com/anthill-26-twins-98271">Twins</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/anthill-25-intuition-96677">Intuition</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/anthill-19-pain-87538">Pain</a>. And browse <a href="https://theconversation.com/podcasts">other podcasts</a> from The Conversation here.</em> </p>
<p><em>Thank you to City, University of London’s Department of Journalism for letting us use their studios to record The Anthill.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100183/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A podcast about confidence – from how it works in our brains and whether it can get us ahead at work to how confidence tricksters fool people into falling for their scams.
Annabel Bligh, Business & Economy Editor and Podcast Producer, The Conversation UK
Gemma Ware, Head of Audio
Holly Squire, Special Projects Editor, The Conversation UK
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/95018
2018-06-22T11:10:20Z
2018-06-22T11:10:20Z
How entrepreneurs have the most stressful – yet most satisfying – jobs
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224004/original/file-20180620-137708-iikejg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Entrepreneurs have some of the most stressful jobs. They must grapple with uncertainty and being personally responsible (and liable) for any decision they make. They have the <a href="https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2001/working-conditions/third-european-survey-on-working-conditions-2000">longest working hours</a> of any occupational group. And they have to rapidly develop expertise across all areas of management from finance, marketing, procurement and operations to human resource management in the process of starting and managing their business. </p>
<p>Yet despite all this, research finds that entrepreneurs are <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11187-011-9413-9">happier</a> and seemingly <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1348/096317909X472067">healthier</a> than people in other jobs. So how can we explain this paradox? </p>
<p>To understand entrepreneurs’ happiness, I conducted a <a href="http://amp.aom.org/content/early/2018/01/05/amp.2017.0001.short">comprehensive and systematic review</a> of 144 empirical studies of this topic, covering 50 years. Here are the five key findings that sum up the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur.</p>
<h2>1. It’s not all about pay</h2>
<p>Work on the economics of entrepreneurship traditionally assumed that entrepreneurs bear all the stresses and uncertainty associated with their work, because over the long term they can expect high financial reward for their effort. Yet the evidence shows that entrepreneurs <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/262131">earn less</a> than they would if they, with their particular skill set, were working as employees. </p>
<p>When you ask entrepreneurs how they measure their <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0266242615608469">success</a>, happiness often comes out on top, alongside autonomy. Income features much less prominently.</p>
<h2>2. Highly stressful</h2>
<p>At the same time, there is substantial evidence that entrepreneurs face <a href="http://amp.aom.org/content/early/2018/01/05/amp.2017.0001.short">myriad stressors</a> that diminish their happiness. High workload and work intensity, as well as financial problems facing their business are top of the entrepreneurs’ stress list. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224005/original/file-20180620-137725-qs3gh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224005/original/file-20180620-137725-qs3gh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224005/original/file-20180620-137725-qs3gh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224005/original/file-20180620-137725-qs3gh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224005/original/file-20180620-137725-qs3gh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224005/original/file-20180620-137725-qs3gh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224005/original/file-20180620-137725-qs3gh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Being an entrepreneur is stressful but rewarding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although they diminish entrepreneurs’ happiness, some stressors have an upside. While they require more effort in the here and now, they may lead to positive consequences such as business growth in the long term. Some entrepreneurs appear to interpret their long working hours in this way – as a challenge – and therefore turn them into a positive signal. </p>
<h2>3. Autonomy is both good and bad</h2>
<p>The autonomy that comes with being entrepreneur can be a double-edged sword. Entrepreneurs can make decisions about when and what they work on – and with whom they work. Having the freedom to make these decisions is one of the <a href="http://publications.aston.ac.uk/25172/1/Understanding_motivations_for_entrepreneurship.pdf">key motivators</a> for the majority of entrepreneurs to start a business in the first place. </p>
<p>But, as the saying goes, there can be too much of a good thing. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/apps.12066">Recent research</a> into how entrepreneurs experience their autonomy suggests that, at times, they struggle profoundly with it. The sheer number of decisions to make and the uncertainty about what is the best way forward can be overwhelming, especially when the constant high workload means that there is little time to carefully think through decisions. Then there’s the fact that investors and other <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/sej.1201">stakeholders can significantly limit entrepreneurs’ autonomy</a>.</p>
<h2>4. It’s not only personality traits</h2>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091326">evidence</a> that people with certain personality traits such as self-belief or emotional stability are more likely to succeed as entrepreneurs. And, in turn, these personality traits are associated with higher levels of <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0149206313495411">well-being</a>. But studies that consider personality traits and autonomy at the same time are scarce. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11187-009-9249-8">autonomy</a> still seems to be the biggest reason for high levels of job satisfaction among entrepreneurs. Plus, the personality traits that are most characteristic for entrepreneurs are relatively specific and malleable such as self-belief and initiative taking. This kind of <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6357/1287">entrepreneurial mindset</a> can be trained. </p>
<p>Emerging research also finds that the nature of people’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879115300191?via%253Dihub">work can shape their personality</a>. This, intriguingly, suggests that people can develop an entrepreneurial personality through their work as an entrepreneur.</p>
<h2>5. An addictive mix</h2>
<p>The evidence review confirms that, by any stretch of imagination, entrepreneurs’ work is highly demanding and challenging. This, along with the positive aspects of being their own boss coupled with an often competitive personality can lead entrepreneurs to be so engaged with their work that it can become <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883902613001080">obsessive</a>. </p>
<p>So the most critical skill of entrepreneurs is perhaps how they are able to manage themselves and allow time for recovery. Prolonged exposure to work that is as intense as that of entrepreneurs takes a <a href="https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb09546.x">physical toll on peoples’ bodies</a>. Hence future research into <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883902616301641">recovery strategies of entrepreneurs</a> can help them manage their highly stressful, albeit satisfying, jobs.</p>
<h2>Entrepreneurs’ well-being matters</h2>
<p>Entrepreneur happiness matters not just for <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0266242615608469">the entrepreneurs’ themselves</a>, it also matters for their <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2000-07884-004">partners’</a> and <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1103308813477466">children’s</a> well-being. Plus, happy entrepreneurs are less likely to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095652210800033X">give up and close their firms</a>. They are in a better position to recognise opportunities and be more effective at work, which culminates in more successful businesses. </p>
<p>Many features of the world of work today reflect challenges faced by entrepreneurs – high levels of uncertainty, intense work demands and personal responsibility among them. So understanding entrepreneurs’ happiness affords us with a glimpse into how we all may manage the demands of this new world of work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95018/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ute Stephan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Entrepreneurs must grapple with uncertainty and work the longest hours. Yet they are happier and often healthier than people in other jobs.
Ute Stephan, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Aston University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/90365
2018-02-09T12:42:41Z
2018-02-09T12:42:41Z
Confucius has a message for business leaders who want to succeed: reflect
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205607/original/file-20180208-180821-j2c6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Confucius deemed reflection the best way to wisdom.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most admirable and arguably underrated qualities of leadership is the capacity for reflection. <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/confucius_131984">Confucius called</a> it the most noble way to learn wisdom. </p>
<p>But when we talk about what makes someone a successful leader, we typically describe attributes like the ability to innovate, make strategic decisions or manage uncertainty. We rarely mention reflection among the core traits of a great leader. </p>
<p>Yet their capacity to reflect on decisions, behaviors and learning certainly helped guide them toward success. Media mogul <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/07/self-made-millionaire-arianna-huffington-shares-the-no-1-thing-you-need-to-do-to-be-successful.html">Arianna Huffington</a>, for example, recommends reflection as a way to connect with one’s own wisdom and creativity. Billionaire investor <a href="https://inside.bwater.com/publications/principles_excerpt">Ray Dalio</a> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bridgewater-ceo-ray-dalio-learning-from-mistakes-pain-reflection-progress-2017-5">credits reflecting on painful experiences</a> with helping him build Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund. </p>
<p>Reflection is different than critical thinking, which is more focused on problem solving and an end goal. <a href="https://www.bcg.com/publications/2017/leadership-talent-people-organization-rewards-ceo-reflection.aspx">Reflective thinking</a> helps us understand our underlying beliefs and assumptions and how they influence our decisions, guide us in problem-solving and drive behavior. </p>
<p>In my consulting work, I help organizations select top talent and rising stars who can achieve superior levels of performance. Companies tell me they want leaders who can make the “right” decisions quickly and decisively, often while balancing competing interests.</p>
<p>Given the fast-paced nature of the world we inhabit, it may seem counterintuitive for them and others to include the ability to reflect as among the most important traits that will determine a leader’s success. Yet there is growing evidence showing precisely that. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205597/original/file-20180208-180816-1j388x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205597/original/file-20180208-180816-1j388x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205597/original/file-20180208-180816-1j388x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205597/original/file-20180208-180816-1j388x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205597/original/file-20180208-180816-1j388x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205597/original/file-20180208-180816-1j388x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205597/original/file-20180208-180816-1j388x3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Media mogul Arianna Huffington calls reflection essential to being a successful entrepreneur.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Power of reflection</h2>
<p>Physicians understand this intuitively because they must make lightning-quick life and death decisions, requiring ways to help them navigate uncertain situations.</p>
<p>A 2015 paper on the role of reflection in bioethics education describes the ability to reflect as “crucial” to future physicians and helps them develop their “ethical and professional acumen and sensitivity,” according to researchers at <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/article/581562/pdf">Loyola University of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine</a>, which integrates the topic into its formal curriculum.</p>
<p>As such, the school’s medical students participate in small group sessions and reflection-themed assignments that require them to examine their experiences in classes with questions like “What inspired you?” and “Do you feel you are becoming the physician you want to be?”</p>
<p>The majority of students who have participated in these programs said they found it helpful for their personal and professional growth.</p>
<p>Similarly, a year-long study by <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10810730.2015.1018647?journalCode=uhcm20">researchers</a> at Tufts University School of Medicine and Boston College examined the role of reflection on physician-patient interactions. They found that physicians who reflected on the tone they used with patients – and how it affected the latter’s willingness to disclose information – led to improved communication and a greater emphasis on the patient’s actual experiences rather than their own perceptions. </p>
<p>Besides the potential for sharpened awareness and attentiveness in communication, reflection also boosts confidence in one’s ability to complete a task and also improves the understanding of the task, according to <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/14-093_defe8327-eeb6-40c3-aafe-26194181cfd2.pdf">researchers at Harvard Business School</a>. Perhaps surprisingly, they found that taking the time to reflect after finishing a job enhances performance more than additional experience doing it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205598/original/file-20180208-180821-1qpbx76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205598/original/file-20180208-180821-1qpbx76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205598/original/file-20180208-180821-1qpbx76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205598/original/file-20180208-180821-1qpbx76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205598/original/file-20180208-180821-1qpbx76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205598/original/file-20180208-180821-1qpbx76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205598/original/file-20180208-180821-1qpbx76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zarna Patel is in her third year at Loyola University Chicago’s medical school, which integrates reflection into its curriculum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>15 minutes a day</h2>
<p>Although there is emerging evidence showing the benefits of reflection, why aren’t more leaders engaging in this activity? </p>
<p>There may be a host of reasons, the obvious answers being a lack of desire and time. According to <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6192/75">behavioral scientists</a>, most people prefer to engage in external activities rather than be alone with their thoughts.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w23248">study</a> of 1,114 chief executive officers in Brazil, France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States examined how they spend their workday. They found that on average CEOs spend about 70 percent of their time interacting with others either in-person or virtually. The rest is primarily spent on activities supporting these interactions such as travel and preparing for meetings.</p>
<p>This doesn’t leave a lot of time for focused reflection. Still, some leaders recognize the benefit of setting aside time to do just that. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/how-self-reflection-can-make-you-a-better-leader">Harry Kraemer</a>, the former CEO of Baxter International, schedules a nightly ritual of reflection during which he asks self-examining questions such as, “If I lived today over again, what would have I done differently?” </p>
<p>Kraemer doesn’t advocate a specific approach to self-reflection since he believes it to be a personal matter. But he strongly recommends that leaders make the time for it, even as little as 15 minutes a day. Interestingly, <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/14-093_defe8327-eeb6-40c3-aafe-26194181cfd2.pdf">researchers</a> have found that 15 minutes of self-reflection at the end of the day can in fact boost performance.</p>
<p>Spanx founder and billionaire <a href="http://www.marieclaire.com/politics/news/a11508/sara-blakely-interview/">Sara Blakely</a> uses journaling as a means of reflection. In an interview, Blakely said she has filled about 20 notebooks with all the “terrible things” that have happened to her.</p>
<p>“Every terrible thing that happens to you always has a hidden gift and is leading you to something greater,” she said. </p>
<p>The idea that the best learning happens in moments of quiet reflection is a sentiment backed by <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/44/15845.full.pdf">research</a> from the University of Texas at Austin. Researchers examined whether reflection enhances future learning. Participants were assigned memorization tasks and given time between them to think about anything. Participants, who used that in-between time to reflect on what they learned, became better able to connect new information to related ideas they already knew. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205599/original/file-20180208-180829-cn0124.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205599/original/file-20180208-180829-cn0124.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205599/original/file-20180208-180829-cn0124.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205599/original/file-20180208-180829-cn0124.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205599/original/file-20180208-180829-cn0124.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205599/original/file-20180208-180829-cn0124.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205599/original/file-20180208-180829-cn0124.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">He may be ‘The Thinker,’ but he’s probably reflecting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">tkachuk/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How to make it your own</h2>
<p>So how can we all take advantage of the power of reflection?</p>
<p>The key, according to organizational psychologist <a href="https://ideas.ted.com/the-right-way-to-be-introspective-yes-theres-a-wrong-way/">Tasha Eurich</a>, is to ask “what” rather than “why.” For example, instead of asking, “Why did this happen?” ask, “What could I have done differently to stop it from happening again?” </p>
<p>Asking “what” questions help us to escape the loop of rumination, maintain objectivity and stay focused on the future. When individuals take a “<a href="http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2017/07/037.html">distanced perspective</a>,” seeing things as an observer, they report higher levels of confidence and are able to better respond to sources of stress. </p>
<p>There is no unique universal approach to reflective inquiry. Investigate a practice that resonates most with you and apply it daily, beginning with minor challenges or even relatively benign situations.</p>
<p>There is no need to expect to get it “right and now.” The ultimate aim is to place yourself simultaneously as an active participant and observer of your life and experiences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90365/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Khatera Sahibzada is the founder and owner of KSAHIB Consulting, which advises companies on leadership selection and assessment. </span></em></p>
The ancient Chinese teacher called reflection the best way to become wise, yet we rarely consider it a core trait of a great leader. It’s time for that to change.
Khatera Sahibzada, Adjunct Lecturer of Leadership, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/84240
2017-09-19T14:03:43Z
2017-09-19T14:03:43Z
Copying Bill Gates is a bad idea if you want to get rich
<p>Bill Gates is a lot luckier than you might realise. He may be a very talented man who worked his way up from college dropout to the top spot on the list of the world’s richest people. But his extreme success perhaps tells us more about the importance of circumstances beyond his control than it does about how skill and perseverance are rewarded. </p>
<p>We often fall for the idea that the exceptional performers are the most skilled or talented. But this is flawed. Exceptional performances tend to occur in exceptional circumstances. Top performers are often the luckiest people, who have benefited from being at the right place and right time. They are what we call outliers, whose performances may be examples set apart from the system that everyone else works within. </p>
<p>Many treat Gates and other highly successful people like him as deserving of huge attention and reward, as people from whom we could <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/08/24/what-you-can-learn-from-bill-gates-and-steve-ballmer.html">learn a lot</a> about how to succeed. But assuming life’s “winners” got there from performance alone is likely lead to disappointment. Even if you could imitate everything Gates did, you would not be able to replicate his initial good fortune.</p>
<p>For example, Gates’s upper-class background and <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520">private education</a> enabled him to gain extra programming experience when less than <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0141036257">0.01%</a> of his generation then had access to computers. His <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-helped-her-son-start-microsoft.html">mother’s social connection with IBM’s chairman</a> enabled him to gain a contract from the then-leading PC company that was crucial for establishing his software empire. </p>
<p>This is important because most customers who used IBM computers were forced to learn how to use Microsoft’s software that came along with it. This created an inertia in Microsoft’s favour. The next software these customers chose was more likely to be Microsoft’s, not because their software was necessarily the best, but because most people were too busy to learn how to use anything else. Microsoft’s success and market share may differ from the rest by several orders of magnitude but <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2234208?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">the difference was really enabled by Gate’s early fortune</a>, reinforced by a strong <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/109/24/9331.abstract">success-breeds-success dynamic</a>.</p>
<p>Of course, Gates’s talent and effort played important roles in the extreme success of Microsoft. But that’s not enough for creating such an outlier. Talent and effort are likely to be less important than circumstances in the sense that he could not have been so successful without the latter.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186583/original/file-20170919-22620-1b12h9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186583/original/file-20170919-22620-1b12h9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186583/original/file-20170919-22620-1b12h9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186583/original/file-20170919-22620-1b12h9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186583/original/file-20170919-22620-1b12h9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186583/original/file-20170919-22620-1b12h9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186583/original/file-20170919-22620-1b12h9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">10,000 hours of this isn’t enough.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One might argue that many exceptional performers still gained their exceptional skill through hard work, exceptional motivation or “grit”, so they do not deserve to receive lower reward and praise. Some have even suggested that there is a magic number for greatness, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise/dp/0544456238">a ten-year or 10,000-hour rule</a>. Many professionals and experts did acquire their exceptional skill through <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grit-passion-resilience-secrets-success/dp/1785040200/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4XDQTN0PE0TAGGCDDBNT">persistent, deliberate practices</a>. In fact, Gates’ 10,000 hours learning computer programming as a teenager <a href="http://wisdomgroup.com/blog/10000-hours-of-practice/">has been highlighted</a> as one of the reasons for his success.</p>
<p>But detailed analyses of the case studies of experts often suggest that certain situational factors beyond the control of these exceptional performers also play an important role. For example, three national champions in table tennis came from the same street in a small suburb of one town in England. This wasn’t a coincidence or because there was nothing else to do but practise ping pong. It turns out that a famous table tennis coach, Peter Charters, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bounce-Myth-Talent-Power-Practice/dp/0007350546/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505752124&sr=1-1&keywords=bounce+syed">happened to retire in this particular suburb</a>.</p>
<p>Many kids who lived on the same street as the retired coach were attracted to this sport because of him and three of them, after following the “10,000-hour rule”, performed exceptionally well, including winning the national championship. Their talent and efforts were, of course, essential for realising their exceptional performances. But without their early luck (having a reliable, high-quality coach and supportive families), simply practicing 10,000 hours without adequate feedback wouldn’t likely lead a randomly picked child to become a national champion.</p>
<h2>The greater the success, the less we can learn</h2>
<p>We could also imagine a child with superior talent in table tennis suffering from early bad luck, such as not having a capable coach or being in a country where being an athlete was not considered to be a promising career. Then they might never have a chance to realise their potential. The implication is that the more exceptional a performance is, the fewer meaningful, applicable lessons we can actually learn from the “winner”.</p>
<p>When it comes to moderate performance, it seems much more likely that our intuition about success is correct. Conventional wisdom, such as “the harder I work the luckier I get” or “chance favours the prepared mind”, makes perfect sense when talking about someone moving from poor to good performance. Going from good to great, however, is a different story. Being in the right place (succeeding in a context where early outcome has an enduring impact) at the right time (having early luck) can be so important that <a href="http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/stsc.2017.0025">it overwhelms merits</a>.</p>
<p>With this in mind there’s a good case that we shouldn’t just reward or imitate life’s winners and expect to have similar success. But there is a case that the winners should consider imitating the likes of Gates (who became a philanthropist) or Warren Buffet (who argues that richer Americans should pay higher taxes) who have chosen to use their wealth and success to do good things. The winners who appreciate their luck and do not take it all deserve more of our respect.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chengwei Liu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Exceptional people come from exceptional circumstances that can’t easily be replicated.
Chengwei Liu, Associate Professor of Strategy and Behavioural Science, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/82305
2017-09-07T23:23:44Z
2017-09-07T23:23:44Z
Worth reading: Tried and true manuals for success
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185192/original/file-20170907-9603-4fg5uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Recommended books offer a path to success for everyone, writes Michael Armstrong.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: The Conversation Canada asked our academic authors to share some recommended reading. In this instalment, Michael Armstrong, an operations research professor at Brock University who has written for</em> The Conversation Canada <em>on topics as diverse as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-well-do-students-perform-when-retaking-courses-82559">student success rates in school</a> to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/picketts-charge-what-modern-mathematics-teaches-us-about-civil-war-battle-78982">mathematics of Civil War battle</a>, shares the top three books that he recommends for guidance on making the most of your career at any age.</em></p>
<p>Here are three books that I often recommend to my students and friends. All are practical guides that have stood the test of time. The first will help you start your career, the second will help you succeed in it and the third will help you profit from it.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185187/original/file-20170907-9563-1ycay0g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185187/original/file-20170907-9563-1ycay0g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185187/original/file-20170907-9563-1ycay0g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185187/original/file-20170907-9563-1ycay0g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185187/original/file-20170907-9563-1ycay0g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185187/original/file-20170907-9563-1ycay0g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185187/original/file-20170907-9563-1ycay0g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185187/original/file-20170907-9563-1ycay0g.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>What Color is Your Parachute?</em> by Richard N. Bolles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Handout)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><em><a href="http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/books/view/what-color-is-your-parachute-2016">What Color Is Your Parachute?</a></em></h2>
<p><em>A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers</em></p>
<p>by Richard N. Bolles (Non-fiction. Paperback, 2016 and others. Ten Speed Press.)</p>
<p>This is a popular guide for job seekers. Like most such books, it gives advice on the mechanical details of job hunting, such as good ways to organize a resume. </p>
<p>More importantly — and less commonly — it helps people figure out what they want to do with their lives. What kind of career will best fit your personality? Will you be happier working with people or with data? </p>
<p>The book is an obvious fit for graduates seeking their first job. But it could also help teenagers choose the best education to pursue after high school, or adults trying to make their careers more satisfying.</p>
<p> </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185190/original/file-20170907-9585-dbrqyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185190/original/file-20170907-9585-dbrqyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185190/original/file-20170907-9585-dbrqyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185190/original/file-20170907-9585-dbrqyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185190/original/file-20170907-9585-dbrqyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185190/original/file-20170907-9585-dbrqyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185190/original/file-20170907-9585-dbrqyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185190/original/file-20170907-9585-dbrqyv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>The Ropes to Skip and the Ropes to Know</em> by Ritti, Levy, Toucher.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Handout)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><em><a href="https://chicagobusinesspress.com/book/ropes-skip-and-ropes-know-9">The Ropes to Skip and the Ropes to Know</a></em></h2>
<p><em>Studies in Organizational Theory and Behavior</em></p>
<p>by R. Richard Ritti, Steve Levy and Neil Toucher (Non-fiction. Hardcover, 2016 and others. Chicago Business Press.)</p>
<p>Don’t let the academic-sounding subtitle deter you. This is a highly readable book. It consists of short stories or parables that illustrate how people behave and interact at work. </p>
<p>Every workplace has an official structure and formal rules. But workplaces contain people with individual personalities and relationships. This book will help you understand the unofficial structures and unwritten rules, before they get you into trouble. </p>
<p>I often recommend <em>The Ropes to Skip and the Ropes to Know</em> to people starting their first job. It would be especially good for someone promoted to their first management or supervisory role.</p>
<p> </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185191/original/file-20170907-9585-xrc0pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185191/original/file-20170907-9585-xrc0pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185191/original/file-20170907-9585-xrc0pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185191/original/file-20170907-9585-xrc0pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185191/original/file-20170907-9585-xrc0pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185191/original/file-20170907-9585-xrc0pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185191/original/file-20170907-9585-xrc0pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185191/original/file-20170907-9585-xrc0pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>The Wealthy Barber</em> by David Chilton.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Handout)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><em><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2674.The_Wealthy_Barber%22%22">The Wealthy Barber</a></em></h2>
<p><em>The Common Sense Guide to Successful Financial Planning</em></p>
<p>by David Chilton (Non-fiction. Paperback, 2002 and others. Stoddart.)</p>
<p>Once you receive your first paycheque, you’ll want to read this beginner’s guide to personal finance. It covers the basics of investing: retirement savings, mutual funds, etc. It also introduces a lot of other financial topics: savings versus spending, insurance that you do or don’t need, and so on. </p>
<p>This probably isn’t the only financial guide you’ll ever need, but it is a good first one. I typically recommend it to recent graduates starting their careers. But it also suits mature adults dealing with money issues for the first time, perhaps after the death or divorce of their spouse.</p>
<p>Have an enjoyable and productive fall!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Armstrong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Practical reads to propel you to professional success.
Michael J. Armstrong, Associate professor of operations research, Brock University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81951
2017-08-21T19:27:04Z
2017-08-21T19:27:04Z
It’s hard to find a humble CEO. Here’s why
<p>Humility is the latest badge of virtue for those in positions of influence. From <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bush-clinton-humble-presidential-library-talk_us_59683418e4b0d6341fe7ce11">politicians</a>, to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/most-humble-day-of-my-life-20110719-1hndl.html">executives</a>, to <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7768186/kendrick-lamar-humble-number-one-billboard-hot-100">chart-topping artists</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-014-2311-8">idea</a> of a <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018726705059929">humble</a> CEO is a romantic departure from the greedy <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304405X7690026X">self-serving</a> corporate hero. Rather, when faced with adversity, humble CEOs <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-case-for-humble-executives-1445385076">sacrifice their own interests</a> for the greater good. </p>
<p><a href="http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/orsc.1120.0795">Studies echo</a> the intuition that humble leaders are more modest, emotionally stable, and eager to learn. Unsurprisingly, they are less likely to display self-aggrandizing traits such as <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018726705059929">narcissism</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps most telling is the finding that <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0149206315604187">companies</a> and <a href="http://amj.aom.org/content/59/3/1088.full">teams</a> led by more humble individuals, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/job.2211/full">perform better</a>. But despite humility being good for business, it’s extremely difficult for CEOs to be genuinely humble.</p>
<h2>Success culls humility</h2>
<p>A distinctive strength of humble leaders is <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0018726705059929">self-awareness</a> – confidence in their abilities paired with accurate self-appraisal of their limitations. Yet, people often <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10626367">overestimate their virtues</a> while underestimating their limitations. </p>
<p>For example, a <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.64.2655">recurring</a> research finding is that people <em>think</em> they are <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/everyone-thinks-they-are-above-average/">better-than-average</a>. Smarter, better looking, even <a href="https://www.onepetro.org/journal-paper/ASSE-17-08-24">superior drivers</a>. CEOs are <a href="http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.1070.0830">no exception</a>, in fact they may be even <a href="http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/managing-overconfidence/">more at risk</a> of overestimating their strengths.</p>
<p>A key reason for this is that CEOs are – as a byproduct of their career success – highly confident. Whether the CEO climbs rungs of the corporate ladder or whether a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smj.405/full">celebrity CEO</a> is <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-embraced-the-outsider-ceo-but-they-cant-always-save-the-day-53733">parachuted in</a>, they will have successfully out-competed other confident and capable people for the job. </p>
<p>The confidence that accrues with career <a href="http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.1050.0485">success</a> is important for leading an organisation. Yet, success is a mixed blessing. The same string of career wins may also lead CEOs to <em>over</em>-appraise their strengths without attributing the role of other factors, such as <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2696421">luck</a>, in their achievements. </p>
<p>Such overconfidence can even harm organisations. Studies show that CEOs who overestimate their abilities tend to <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2393810">overpay for acquisitions</a>, take <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0149206317699521">undue risks</a>, introduce more <a href="http://amj.aom.org/content/46/2/139.short">unsuccessful new products</a>, and have more <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2189/asqu.52.3.351">volatile firm performance</a>. </p>
<h2>Acting “like a CEO”</h2>
<p>If finding an authentically humble CEO candidate is rare, looking at the personality profiles of people who want to be CEOs complicates matters further.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0030507377900174">Research</a> shows certain jobs attract people with specific personalities. Recruiters in turn rely on judgements, oftentimes subjective, of how a candidate’s personality will <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2000.tb00217.x/full">fit the job and the organisation</a>.</p>
<p>CEOs tend to score <a href="http://under30ceo.com/the-psychological-profiles-of-the-worlds-top-ceos/">higher</a> than the general population on personality attributes such achievement-orientation, ambition, assertiveness, and risk-preference. Individuals with some, or a combination, of these traits may be particularly adept at <em>pretending</em> to fit ideal criteria for a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886901000216">specific role</a>. </p>
<p>For instance, studies show that narcissists are particularly skilled at <em>appearing</em> charismatic at <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-24670-005">first sight</a>. Charisma, in turn, has long been considered a <a href="http://amr.aom.org/content/31/4/1049.short">desirable feature</a> of CEOs. CEOs perceived as charismatic, accordingly, receive <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984304000232">higher pay</a>. </p>
<p>Genuine humility may thus be a scarce personality feature among candidates for CEO positions.</p>
<h2>Hurdles to leading with humility</h2>
<p>Humble CEOs emphasise leadership as a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/job.2211/full">shared activity</a> and actively <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0170840612470229">seek advice</a> from others. Although this might work for more considered and analytical decisions, it may come at the cost of speed. </p>
<p>High-performing firms are often characterised by an ability to make <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smj.343/full">decisions quickly</a>. In fact, some evidence suggests that more narcissistic CEOs may be quicker in making judgement calls, for instance, about <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0001839213488773">adopting new technologies</a>. </p>
<p>CEOs are also expected to provide <a href="http://amj.aom.org/content/60/3/1094.short">precise forecasts</a> of an uncertain future. However, managers often engage in <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2118364">herd behavior</a> in the face of uncertainty, and firms often end up <a href="http://amr.aom.org/content/31/2/366.short">imitating</a> each other. By virtue of their self-awareness, humble CEOs can be expected to issue more realistic expectations that may deviate from collective <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=71411">overoptimism</a>. </p>
<p>However, analysts tend to rate <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1540-6261.00526/full">optimistic forecasts</a> more favourably. As such, humble CEOs may be penalised for conveying more conservative, albeit more realistic, forecasts.</p>
<p>Some research suggests that accomplished professionals could potentially become more self aware in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/rfs/article/14/1/1/1586886/Learning-to-Be-Overconfident">later stages</a> of <a href="http://amr.aom.org/content/16/4/719.short">their career</a>. If this is the case, then some CEOs may become more humble as they get closer to retirement.</p>
<p>However, the purported benefits of age and experience may be offset by other tendencies that emerge during later career phases. For instance, CEOs closer to retirement have a natural tendency to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hrm.21730/full">reduce investments in innovation</a> and those with longer tenures tend to be <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0149206309345019">overly averse to change</a>. </p>
<p>Equipping organisations with the right leadership attributes is crucial for success. Humility is a precious, but rare, commodity in the executive suite. </p>
<p>Staying genuinely humble through progressive stages of high achievement is difficult for CEOs. Those who are authentically humble, in turn, face distinct challenges that may trump the benefits of their humility.</p>
<p>Humility is at risk of becoming the latest leadership buzzword. Organisations that manage to find an <em>authentically</em> humble CEO, however, may just have an edge. </p>
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<p><a href="http://aom.org/">Mariano L.M. Heyden is a member of the Academy of Management</a></p>
<footer>The academy is a funding partner of The Conversation US.</footer>
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</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Mariano L.M. Heyden receives funding from the Australian Research Council. Dr. Mariano L.M. Heyden is an Academy of Management scholar.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Hayward does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Humble CEOs may be the new prize, but they are in short supply and face distinctive challenges.
Mariano L.M. Heyden, Associate Professor of Strategy & International Business, Monash University
Mathew Hayward, Professor Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/79893
2017-07-25T01:16:33Z
2017-07-25T01:16:33Z
Do challenges make school seem impossible or worthwhile?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179494/original/file-20170724-11166-djnp45.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When school gets tough, do you think it's worthwhile? Or time to give up?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/studying-girl-440842600?src=enkWg7yoM312gbpnGxyhXw-1-50">Pavlin Plamenov Petkov/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Did you get where you intended to in life? Are you as healthy, wealthy and wise as you want to be? If not, perhaps the problem is a lack of motivation.</p>
<p>Some studies suggest that motivation – rather than ability or skill – is the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/pathways-to-success-through-identity-based-motivation-9780195341461">best predictor of educational and professional attainment</a>.</p>
<p>But what do we actually mean by motivation? It seems that wherever one turns, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Theory_of_Human_Motivation.html?id=nvnsAgAAQBAJ">experts</a> have <a href="http://gumptionade.com/">new</a> <a href="http://www.hayhouse.com/the-motivation-manifesto-hardcover">advice</a> on <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/301674/drive-by-daniel-h-pink/9781594484803">how to be motivated</a>. </p>
<p>As researchers interested in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000055">motivation and educational success</a>, we wondered: Is motivation just one thing, or are there many different kinds of motivation? Is motivation about how people respond to challenges or is it also about how people respond to ease? Understanding these different facets of motivation can help students succeed.</p>
<h2>Why do people need motivation?</h2>
<p>People think of themselves and others as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1229294">having some essence</a> – some fixed or at least stable core. They tend to believe that this sense of “me” defines who they are, who they might become and how they’re likely to act over time.</p>
<p>If people actually had this sort of fixed “essence” (and always acted in ways that fit that essence), the idea of motivation wouldn’t be necessary. People wouldn’t need to be motivated to do something; they would simply do it because it’s part of their identity.</p>
<p>But motivation is necessary. In part, that’s because what people believe to be true of themselves in one situation <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12030">doesn’t necessarily predict</a> what they’ll do in another situation. Wanting to be an “A” student doesn’t mean that you’ll pay attention to the teacher right now instead of passing notes to a friend.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179490/original/file-20170724-28293-4qvxgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179490/original/file-20170724-28293-4qvxgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179490/original/file-20170724-28293-4qvxgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179490/original/file-20170724-28293-4qvxgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179490/original/file-20170724-28293-4qvxgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179490/original/file-20170724-28293-4qvxgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179490/original/file-20170724-28293-4qvxgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179490/original/file-20170724-28293-4qvxgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Even someone who wants to succeed in school may decide it’s more important in the moment to develop friendships than focus in class.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-diverse-high-school-students-studying-651891676">Rawpixel/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>While this seemingly contradictory behavior might seem to be a human design flaw, it’s actually a feature: Thinking (including thinking about who you are) is sensitively attuned to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2009.06.001">what individual situations have to offer</a>. After all, right now it might be more important to keep up a friendship than to worry about something like next week’s test.</p>
<h2>Too easy to matter? Too hard to bother?</h2>
<p>Everyday life involves experiences that are easy and those that are difficult. How do these challenges (or lack of challenges) impact motivation? Research tells us that what matters is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2008.02.014">what people think ease and difficulty mean for them</a>.</p>
<p>Both easy and difficult experiences can be demotivating. If homework feels easy, for instance, a student might think: “This is stupid. I’m not going to do this.” When something feels too easy, it can mean that the task is “beneath me” or “just not worth my time.”</p>
<p>On the other hand, if the homework feels difficult that same student could think: “This is too hard for me. I’m just not a math person.” Or “People like me can’t do this.” When something feels too difficult, it can mean that success in that task is unlikely and that “I” or “we” aren’t cut out for it.</p>
<p>Both perspectives are likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12030">undermine motivation</a>. Why waste your time on things that are trivial or impossible? Better to quit and move on to something else.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179495/original/file-20170724-6656-1n5opta.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179495/original/file-20170724-6656-1n5opta.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179495/original/file-20170724-6656-1n5opta.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179495/original/file-20170724-6656-1n5opta.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179495/original/file-20170724-6656-1n5opta.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179495/original/file-20170724-6656-1n5opta.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179495/original/file-20170724-6656-1n5opta.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179495/original/file-20170724-6656-1n5opta.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In sports, ‘no pain, no gain’ is a common way to look at adversity. The same is not always true in academics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-white-long-sleeve-shirt-holding-black-nike-ball-488610/">Stocksnap</a></span>
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<p>At the same time, experiencing ease or difficulty while working on a task can also be motivating. When something feels easy, it can mean that success is possible and when something feels difficult, it can mean that success is worthwhile (“no pain, no gain”). In this case, homework that feels easy implies: “I can do this!” Homework that feels difficult implies: “This is valuable!”</p>
<p>Naturally, the demotivating frames of mind can get in the way of success. In our research, we asked over 1,000 adults of various ages, genders and backgrounds their ideas about what ease and difficulty imply. We then asked about 200 of them to perform a complicated cognitive task in which some items were relatively easy to solve and others were quite difficult. We found that the people who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000055">performed better on the task</a> were the ones who felt that difficult does not mean impossible and that easy does not mean trivial.</p>
<h2>How students interpret difficulty matters</h2>
<p>A growing number of studies show that how students perceive difficulty can significantly influence their performance in school.</p>
<p>In these studies, students are randomly divided into two groups. One group reads sentences implying that difficulty is a sign of importance. The other group reads sentences implying that difficulty is a sign of low odds of success. Students in the first kind of group <a href="http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/soco.2015.33.2.1">solve more problems</a>, <a href="http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/v43/acr_vol43_1019297.pdf">write better essays</a> and <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/sites/782/docs/Aeleni_Lewis_Oyserman_2016.pdf">describe themselves as more</a> <a href="http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/soco.2015.33.2.1">focused on school</a> than students in the second kind of group. </p>
<p>In short, how students interpret their everyday difficulties with school matters.</p>
<h2>Is there a pattern?</h2>
<p>Is there a way to predict how students might interpret difficulty and ease?</p>
<p>In the same 1,000-person set of studies, we asked people to rate how much they agreed or disagreed with four interpretations of what ease and difficulty might imply: easy means trivial, difficult means impossible, easy means possible and difficult means worthwhile. We found that people are more inclined to interpret their experiences in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000055">ways that are motivating rather than demotivating</a>. </p>
<p>However, people who did believe that easy things are trivial were likely to also believe that difficult things are impossible. Though not the majority, they make up a subset of people who, without assistance, may tend to work too little and quit too soon.</p>
<p>Who are these people?</p>
<p>Demographically speaking, in our study, they tended to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000055">men with low income</a>. We found some evidence that among adults (primarily white Americans in our samples), low income was associated with higher agreement that when things get difficult, they may be impossible, and one should turn one’s attention elsewhere. Interpreting ease as triviality is a bit gendered: men are somewhat more likely than women to believe that easy things aren’t worth their time.</p>
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<h2>So what can we do?</h2>
<p>If difficulty (and even ease) can be interpreted in such a demotivating way, is there some way to change this interpretation? </p>
<p>Researchers have designed programs that help students see difficulty with schoolwork as a signal of importance – something of value to be engaged with rather than something impossible to be avoided. One such intervention yielded <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.1.188">improved academic outcomes</a> at least two full school years later.</p>
<p>There are also ways that teachers can (carefully) message that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416664714">schoolwork is hard because it’s valuable</a>. Though heavy-handedly telling students what to believe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416664714">will often result in them rejecting or disbelieving the message</a>, teachers can instead give students the chance to argue the point themselves: If the assumption is that difficulty signals impossibility, ask your students to question that assumption and argue against it.</p>
<p>Teachers can also give students the chance to practice interpreting difficulty as importance. This can be something as simple as solving a puzzle that at first seems impossible. With such practice, this interpretation becomes more accessible when students experience difficulty with higher stakes.</p>
<p>No one starts life knowing how to walk, tie shoelaces or ride a bike. The failures along the way – and even the falls, scrapes and bruises – can reinforce the value of the task at hand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79893/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daphna Oyserman receives funding from the Department of Education (Institute for Educational Studies, Investing in Innovation). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oliver Fisher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A high school science test, a Psych 101 course, long job applications: Sometimes it’s hard to be motivated to succeed. As it turns out, how you respond to difficulty and ease can make all the difference.
Daphna Oyserman, Professor of Psychology and Education, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Oliver Fisher, Ph.D. Candidate, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70698
2016-12-31T17:47:14Z
2016-12-31T17:47:14Z
Can’t keep your New Year’s resolutions? Try being kind to yourself
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151497/original/image-20161231-29218-1bek2pq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Making New Year resolutions?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kalyan/3184149164/in/photolist-5RnABw-5NUc1K-5NKuzd-7tcbga-dGh1wr-kCwNz8-7qHPzK-5NvUYk-j9stxp-b56oWa-dHvwxi-ek7jFE-gu81qF-7rTMEX-iPUdTX-b55HuZ-b7WNqp-97vQq5-5Q8MkC-qhoYfA-98mbHi-8CQde-xT5K7-b56GXx-bkVPSz-4kYXBQ-j9qFnv-7rKz5M-vY5p2-j9tnWd-bkVPCz-bkVPbp-b5hwkF-7s4Vgq-9rmqVF-j9txC9-8Hyrf-b57PEk-b57zhB-5NK5mH-bkVNTD-qCZusK-bkVQoP-jF3Waq-5RYWd7-bkVQ8x-bkVPrR-b57Eac-bkVQDc-bkVRSc">Kalyan Kanuri</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of us will start out the New Year by making a list of resolutions – changes we want to make to be happier such as eating better, volunteering more often, being a more attentive spouse and so on. But, as we know, we will often fail. After a few failures we will typically give up and go back to our old habits. </p>
<p>Why is it so hard to stick to resolutions that require us to make effective or lasting changes? </p>
<p>I would argue the problem isn’t that we try and we fail – the problem is how we treat ourselves when we fail. I study self-compassion, and my research and that of others show that how we relate to personal failure – with kindness or harsh self-judgment – is incredibly important for building resilience.</p>
<p>From early childhood, we are taught <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1986-14288-001">that we must succeed</a> at all costs. What most of us aren’t taught is how to fail successfully so we can change and grow. </p>
<p>One of the best ways to deal with failure is to have self-compassion.</p>
<h2>What exactly is self-compassion?</h2>
<p>I define <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/SCtheoryarticle.pdf">self-compassion</a> as having three main components: self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. Self-kindness refers to the tendency to be caring, understanding and supportive toward ourselves when we fail or make mistakes rather than being harshly critical or judgmental. </p>
<p>Common humanity involves recognizing that all humans are imperfect, and connecting our own flawed condition to the shared human condition so we can have greater perspective on our shortcomings. </p>
<p>Mindfulness involves being aware of the pain associated with failure in a clear and balanced manner so that we neither ignore nor obsess about our faults. The three together combine to create a self-compassionate frame of mind.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151498/original/image-20161231-29246-rwrrhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151498/original/image-20161231-29246-rwrrhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151498/original/image-20161231-29246-rwrrhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151498/original/image-20161231-29246-rwrrhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151498/original/image-20161231-29246-rwrrhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151498/original/image-20161231-29246-rwrrhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151498/original/image-20161231-29246-rwrrhx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mindfulness is one component of self-compassion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jackzen/368160371/in/photolist-ywVfB-e28yzn-c5c6FW-ccsu83-5crMK-5j9BJT-dp2q7o-9jZzuY-AYegr-kpAtjV-5j9BzH-dp8MNZ-dp2gm6-druSnN-5jdWAS-5jdSuN-uDUDEk-AMef5-d9vwC1-5j9AMX-5j9PGB-evfNpt-umcD4S-ae9yhR-aoMcTM-efD9wC-5jdTZJ-5je1gm-5j9EJF-5jdScE-e1nXu2-9f6zd3-5j9Kg4-dtEhGo-dGwYY1-akmT2t-5j9GG2-5jdZyf-ssugWe-5j9yfR-5je4As-5j9E6P-umcY21-k4iqVR-5jdYtL-5jdTss-5jdWpu-5jdZQN-uAtex5-ccgppG">Jack Ricchiuto</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://self-compassion.org/the-research/#areaofstudy">A large body of research</a> shows that self-compassion results in <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Zessin.meta-analysis.pdf">greater emotional well-being</a>. One of the most consistent findings in this research is that greater self-compassion is linked to <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/metaanalysis.pdf">less depression, anxiety and stress</a>. </p>
<p>In addition to reducing such negative mind states, <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/JRPbrief.pdf">self-compassion appears to enhance positive mind states</a> such as optimism, gratitude and curiosity. By meeting one’s suffering with the warm embrace of self-compassion, <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Shapira2010.pdf">positive feelings such as happiness</a> are generated at the same time that negative emotions are alleviated. </p>
<p>Self-compassion has been found to be an important source of coping and resilience in the face of various life stressors such as <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/Sbarra.pdf">divorce</a>, <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/FriisConsedineJohnson2015.pdf">chronic health conditions</a> or <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Hiraoka_Meyer_etal_SelfCompassionPredictsPTSD_JTS15.pdf">military combat</a>. It also <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/AlbertsonBodyImage.pdf">reduces body dissatisfaction</a> and even <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Braun_2016.pdf">leads to healthier eating behavior</a> (relevant to many New Year’s resolutions!).</p>
<h2>Misgivings about self-compassion</h2>
<p>If self-compassion is so good for us, why aren’t we kinder to ourselves? </p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest block to self-compassion is the <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/fears-of-compassion-1.pdf">belief that it will undermine our motivation</a>. In parenting circles we no longer hold to the adage “spare the rod spoil the child.” When it comes to our own selves, however, many of us think that sparing the rod of harsh self-criticism will turn us into lazy, self-indulgent ne'er-do-wells. This theme constantly comes up in the workshops I teach.</p>
<p>Of course, the dynamics that go into motivating our children and motivating ourselves are quite similar. Let’s say your teenage son were to come home with a failing English grade. You have two ways to motivate him to try harder and do better next time. </p>
<p>You could admonish him and tell him how stupid he is and that you are ashamed of him. The other option is, knowing how upset he is, you could give him a hug and gently ask him how you could support him in doing better next time. This type of caring, encouraging response would help your son <a href="http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2009_TurnerChandleretal_JCSD.pdf">maintain his self-confidence</a> and feel emotionally supported. The same goes for how we respond to ourselves when we fail.</p>
<h2>How does self-compassion increase motivation?</h2>
<p>A growing body of research indicates that self-compassion is linked to greater motivation. Self-compassion has been associated with <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/JRPbrief.pdf">increased personal initiative</a> – the desire to reach one’s full potential. </p>
<p>Self-compassionate people are also more likely <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/SClearninggoals.pdf">to adopt “mastery goals,”</a> which focus on learning and mastering material to increase competence, and less likely to adopt “performance goals,” which are primarily concerned with succeeding to make a favorable impression on others.</p>
<p>While self-compassionate people have performance standards that are as high as those who are harshly self-critical, <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Mehr_Adams_2016.pdf">they don’t get as upset</a> when they don’t reach their goals. As a result, self-compassionate people have <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/SADandSC.pdf">less performance anxiety</a> and engage in <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/Sandbagging.pdf">fewer self-defeating behaviors</a> such as <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/Procrastination.pdf">procrastination</a>. </p>
<p>Not only are self-compassionate people <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/SClearninggoals.pdf">less likely to fear failure</a>, but when they do fail they’re <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/self-kindness_when_facing_stress.pdf">more likely to pick themselves up and try again</a>. </p>
<p>A series of experiments by psychologists <a href="http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/author/Juliana_Breines">Juliana Breines</a> and <a href="http://psychology.berkeley.edu/people/serena-chen">Serena Chen</a> from the University of California at Berkeley examined whether helping undergraduate students to be more self-compassionate <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/selfimp.motivation.pdf">would impact their motivation</a> to change. </p>
<p>In one study, participants were asked to recall a recent action they felt guilty about – cheating on an exam, lying to a romantic partner, saying something harmful, etc. – something that still made them feel bad when they thought about it. </p>
<p>Next, they were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. In the self-compassion condition, participants were instructed to write to themselves for three minutes from the perspective of a compassionate and understanding friend. </p>
<p>The second condition had people write about all their positive qualities, and the third about a hobby they enjoyed. These two control conditions helped to differentiate self-compassion from positive self-talk and positive mood in general. </p>
<p>The researchers found that participants who were helped to be self-compassionate about their recent transgressions reported being more motivated to apologize for the harm done and more committed to not repeating the behavior than those in the control conditions. </p>
<h2>Sustaining motivation through kindness</h2>
<p>Another study in this <a href="http://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/selfimp.motivation.pdf">same series of experiments</a> explored whether self-compassion would directly translate into greater efforts to learn after failure. Students were given a difficult vocabulary test they all did poorly on. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151500/original/image-20161231-29222-1f39j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151500/original/image-20161231-29222-1f39j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151500/original/image-20161231-29222-1f39j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151500/original/image-20161231-29222-1f39j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151500/original/image-20161231-29222-1f39j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151500/original/image-20161231-29222-1f39j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151500/original/image-20161231-29222-1f39j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This new year, try being kind to yourself.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gexydaf/7957516168/in/photolist-d8bmjC-2SpxD-4bmY73-6KbWKj-5JQUTq-3Vv5tu-AXAuq-4C6fqB-3ynia1-9mN6o6-dS8gu-3bk6WX-oLdZ6j-5nt9W6-2UrNxF-8wSCsW-7UenJQ-24x9KC-6yttRj-2s5Wk9-2TnzKs-aLUWJ2-7ApEBu-2XQdq6-5W2aH8-81vo46-661oUQ-fUEemf-3jciFw-5frhem-kEZd-52z3Ah-dbs6oG-niRHkb-nxwooC-6j3ABx-iuH931-6j3AdM-5S8ek1-6mA1Sc-dw4VWL-en9K8V-pF6ZQT-7Fjbo5-5tqkPU-82yuVg-iuH9YE-ss17g2-5BHM3b-axvxST">Gexydaf</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One group of students was given an instruction to be self-compassionate about their failure. The instruction said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If you had difficulty with the test you just took, you’re not alone. It’s common for students to have difficulty with tests like this. If you feel bad about how you did, try not to be too hard on yourself.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another group was given a self-esteem boost, which said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If you had difficulty with the test you just took, try not to feel bad about yourself – you must be intelligent if you got into Berkeley!” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A third group of participants was given no additional instructions. </p>
<p>The students were next told that they would receive a second vocabulary test, and were given a list of words and definitions they could study for as long as they wanted before taking it. Study time was used as a measure of improvement motivation. </p>
<p>The students who were told to be self-compassionate after failing the first test spent more time studying than those in the other two conditions. Study time was linked to how well participants actually performed on the test. These findings suggest that being kind to yourself when you fail or make mistakes gives you the emotional support needed to try your best, and to keep trying even when discouraged.</p>
<p>Kindness is the engine that drives us to keep trying even after we fall flat on our face. So this New Year, when you make and inevitably break your resolutions, instead of beating yourself up and then giving up, try being kind to yourself. In the long run you’ll be more likely to succeed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristin Neff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Research shows that kindness toward oneself, or self-compassion, could improve motivation.
Kristin Neff, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/65711
2016-10-27T01:41:39Z
2016-10-27T01:41:39Z
What is the secret to success?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143153/original/image-20161025-4702-1e5qto7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who succeeds will depend not on intentions alone.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gettysburgcollege/2978430748/in/photolist-c8UdDd-canryA-c8EKkd-c8wZTf-c8Ubo7-773Eje-cthRBb-c8Ubtf-7yAJjG-ceKJeN-4Suvuj-ctj5J5-c8x1q9-bXozpT-cuDLTA-cee83Q-cuDPtJ-cfKxZC-cansAG-qzncdX-cant5d-66GG5-bV38NH-cti47L-canq7Y-83c7Pf-canwtG-cti5p7-c9N6cm-c8EB2o-cfVGq3-9gUedV-c9N5kW-ctjaUu-ctjacy-9gU4UM-cuDNz3-83caPu-ctj8e5-c8WrjW-c8UcVb-9gWfS7-bVQEr2-gafDey-cthTJf-5xceGh-bWy68x-ceK91L-bVQDfk-pLKjn2">Gettysburg College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At hundreds of colleges and universities across the country, thousands of students are in the midst of the fall semester, trying to manage the academic tasks of studying, exams, papers and lectures. A lot is riding on their academic performance – earning (or just keeping) scholarships, landing summer internships, gaining employment and of course acquiring new skills and knowledge.</p>
<p>The vast majority of students will tell you they intend to do well, that they know it takes hard work to succeed. But some students will <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/03/11/men-really-hate-studying-love-partying/?utm_term=.700449b35a20">end up hitting more bars</a> and parties than books. That is, not everyone ends up <a href="https://www.aacu.org/leap/public-opinion-research/2015-students">putting in that hard work</a>. </p>
<p>In our own work, we have found that asking college students questions like, “How important do you think it is to do well at college?” gives us essentially no information about who will do well in terms of grades. </p>
<p>College students are hardly unique in not following through on their intentions and goals. Frustrated parents might do well to look to their own unused gym memberships or perennial weight-loss resolutions to realize that intentions are not always sufficient to ensure steady progress toward one’s goals.</p>
<p>Why is there such a disconnect between our intentions and our actions? And, how can we predict who has the grit to succeed, if we can’t depend on what people tell us?</p>
<h2>Explicit or implicit beliefs?</h2>
<p>When people are directly asked how important they think it is to succeed at some goal, they are reporting their “explicit beliefs.” Such beliefs may largely reflect people’s aspirations, such as their sincere intentions to buckle down and study hard this semester, but these <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19057976">may not always map</a> onto their subsequent inclination to persist. </p>
<p>Rather than depend on people’s explicit beliefs, in our research we looked instead to people’s implicit beliefs.</p>
<p>Implicit beliefs are mental associations that are <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307696.001.0001/acprof-9780195307696-chapter-15">measured indirectly</a>. Rather than asking the person to state what they think about some topic, implicit measures use computerized reaction-time tasks to infer the strength of someone’s implicit associations. For instance, a great deal of research by psychologists <a href="https://www.projectimplicit.net/nosek/">Brian Nosek</a>, <a href="https://faculty.washington.edu/agg/">Tony Greenwald</a> and <a href="http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/%7Ebanaji/bio.html">Mahzarin Banaji</a> over the last two decades has shown that <a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/">people often hold negative implicit associations </a> about members of stigmatized racial and ethnic groups.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143159/original/image-20161025-4699-v070i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143159/original/image-20161025-4699-v070i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143159/original/image-20161025-4699-v070i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143159/original/image-20161025-4699-v070i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143159/original/image-20161025-4699-v070i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143159/original/image-20161025-4699-v070i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143159/original/image-20161025-4699-v070i3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People often have negative implicit associations about members of stigmatized racial and ethnic groups.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/artfulblogger/5672711314/in/photolist-9Dh8ru-9CncaK-9Df9K6-9CpHtF-9CpQuJ-9D2hdW-9CoHiD-goptmS-kGixNC-7bephj-3dGDmE-4ChRWt-6usrdx-ihttk8-ihsTNw-ihsFDa-ihsNxQ-pZpMje-miysZi-kGcmFu-Jf7q69-ihsy6K-kJaVBn-j1dfps-ihsKuC-b6DGrP-6gEdeV-5Sh1Ad-iZhpf1-7wpL3v-kGgC4X-kJaK6x-eoh8mg-arGfyH-78zdwE-D88P8p-8pr74V-9HpNH1-5PHohc-6gEik8-b1dwA-mixkND-ihsAex-dAwaNp-j1akyT-kGiG5Y-fj35Wu-6if8dW-skbaea-67VqCX">Kate</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even though many participants in these studies explicitly stated they believed in fairness and equality among racial groups, they nevertheless <a href="http://spottheblindspot.com/">showed implicit biases</a> toward racial and ethnic groups. In other words, whereas people “said” they were egalitarian, they in fact possessed strong negative associations in their mind when it came to certain racial groups. </p>
<p>Implicit associations are critical to understand because they can <a href="https://uncch.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/sequential-priming-measures-of-implicit-social-cognition-a-meta-a">predict a range of everyday behaviors</a>, from the mundane (what foods people eat) to the monumental (how people vote). </p>
<p>But do implicit associations predict who has the grit to succeed at life’s difficult goals? </p>
<h2>Here’s what we did</h2>
<p>To find out, instead of measuring people’s explicit beliefs about the importance of their goals, we measured <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27281353">people’s implicit beliefs</a> about the importance of an area (e.g., schoolwork, exercise) and then measured their success and persistence at relevant tasks (e.g., grades, gym regimens). </p>
<p>We used a computer-based test called the “Implicit Association Test (IAT)” to measure our participants’ implicit beliefs. The test takes about seven minutes to complete. Participants have to don noise-canceling headphones and sit in a distraction-free cubicle. </p>
<p>In five of our studies, we used this test to measure students’ cognitive association between “importance” and “schoolwork.” Student participants were asked to indicate, as quickly as they could, using computer keys, whether each of a series of words was related to “schoolwork,” was a synonym of “importance” or was a synonym of “unimportance.” Examples of such words included “exam,” “critical” and “trivial.” </p>
<p>The test was set up in such a way so that even a slight difference in the speed of response (at the level of milliseconds) could reveal differences in the strength of the association between schoolwork and importance. </p>
<p>In short, it allowed us to measure the extent to which people implicitly believed that schoolwork was important. </p>
<h2>Multiple studies to corroborate</h2>
<p>Could millisecond differences in reaction times meaningfully capture people’s beliefs and predict success in their goals? For instance, could this seven-minute-long measure of milliseconds predict who would earn straight A’s in their college classes? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143160/original/image-20161025-4738-1emau75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143160/original/image-20161025-4738-1emau75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143160/original/image-20161025-4738-1emau75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143160/original/image-20161025-4738-1emau75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143160/original/image-20161025-4738-1emau75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143160/original/image-20161025-4738-1emau75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143160/original/image-20161025-4738-1emau75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Implicit beliefs can identify who will meet their goals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/salendron/5554106918/in/photolist-9sNfu7-Dk2qH1-9CpQdi-9CpFSx-sc2Nb6-8LvQHY-9CrAt9-bd5gUz-sM5ER-9CrzCy-9CYgqM-9Dhfcy-9Dh8ru-9CncaK-9Df9K6-9CpHtF-9CpQuJ-9D2hdW-9CoHiD-goptmS-kGixNC-7bephj-3dGDmE-4ChRWt-6usrdx-ihttk8-ihsTNw-ihsFDa-ihsNxQ-pZpMje-miysZi-kGcmFu-Jf7q69-ihsy6K-kJaVBn-j1dfps-ihsKuC-b6DGrP-6gEdeV-5Sh1Ad-iZhpf1-7wpL3v-kGgC4X-kJaK6x-eoh8mg-arGfyH-78zdwE-D88P8p-8pr74V-9HpNH1">salendron</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>We found that they did. And we didn’t observe this relationship just once. We found that again and again – across seven different studies, run in different labs, with different populations and predicting different types of persistence and success. Across five studies, we found that college students’ implicit belief in the importance of schoolwork predicted who got higher grades. </p>
<p>We didn’t limit our study to college performance. We also tested other goals, such as going to the gym. We found that those who had a stronger association between importance and exercise were significantly more likely to exercise more often and more intensely.</p>
<p>Then we conducted a test to find out how implicit beliefs predicted test-taking abilities. We tested college students’ implicit beliefs about the importance of the GRE (Graduate Record Examination), a widely used exam that helps determine graduate school admissions and scholarships. Those who showed a stronger association between importance and the GRE scored significantly better on a practice GRE test. </p>
<h2>A unique measure of likelihood of success</h2>
<p>Like any measure, ours wasn’t perfect. We couldn’t always predict in every instance who would succeed or fail. But our brief computerized test provided new insight into who was likely to succeed – an insight not captured by more traditional measures.</p>
<p>For example, higher SAT scores are taken to be a measure of who will likely do better at college and better on the GRE. Our data did show that SAT scores are a good predictor of both. However, knowing participants’ implicit beliefs in the importance of school or the GRE predicted success over and above what SAT scores could tell us. In other words, even when two people scored the same on the SAT, the one with the stronger implicit belief about the importance of the GRE tended to score better on the practice exam. </p>
<p>One interesting finding in our studies was that implicit beliefs predicted some people’s success more than others. Closer examination showed that those for whom exerting self-control was difficult – those who said they have trouble completing assignments on time, who could be easily dissuaded from making it to spin class or who have difficulty maintaining focus during long reading comprehension passages – were those who most benefited from having a strong implicit belief that the goal was important. </p>
<p>In other words, it was those individuals in need of a boost who most clearly benefited from the implicit nudge that their pursuits were important. </p>
<h2>What exactly is the role of implicit beliefs?</h2>
<p>Our work adds to a <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2014-48911-001/">growing body of evidence</a> that the ordinarily hidden-from-view, implicit associations in our mind offer new insights about many everyday decisions and behaviors. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143162/original/image-20161025-4710-1kkypd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143162/original/image-20161025-4710-1kkypd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143162/original/image-20161025-4710-1kkypd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143162/original/image-20161025-4710-1kkypd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143162/original/image-20161025-4710-1kkypd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143162/original/image-20161025-4710-1kkypd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/143162/original/image-20161025-4710-1kkypd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=772&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Implicit beliefs can predict chances of success.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/amandawoodward/303024645/in/photolist-sM5ER-9CrzCy-9CYgqM-9Dhfcy-9Dh8ru-9CncaK-9Df9K6-9CpHtF-9CpQuJ-9D2hdW-9CoHiD-9DetPa-9Csfid-9Cs4H3-9DeuBB-9CqiGw-9Dha7S-9CoPSV-9D2s3m-9CsBm1-9D2rmb-9DhEjW-9CrMDL-9DePer-9CpFdB-9Cs23A-9CptUz-9DhUSf-9CpPpn-bEYYkN-9Cqbtg-B2gVt-9CsLB5-9CqaEr-9Di1aA-9CsGHo-9CoSh4-9DdRtB-9DhnmS-33BVgM-9DhQss-9DhuPS-9Cq8wX-9CscVQ-9CqfSV-9DgLWq-9DhAr5-9DeCXa-9CrL41-9Cq6h5">PROAmanda Woodward</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>For example, just as implicit associations can predict <a href="http://spottheblindspot.com/">intergroup behavior</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25365037">first impressions</a> of other people and <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0163872">voting behavior</a>, our new findings show that they also predict success at some of life’s most challenging tasks.</p>
<p>However, there are still some questions that remain. For example, do implicit beliefs in the importance of working hard actually cause people to do better, or do they simply identify who is likely to succeed? Could changing people’s implicit beliefs have real effects on their prospects for success?</p>
<p>To be clear: It is certainly not the case that what people say about how much they care about something does not matter at all. Indeed, we would guess that people who say they care nothing about exercising will not be heading to the gym, regardless of their implicit associations between exercise and importance. </p>
<p>But, especially among those who say they do care about something – such as the vast majority of college students caring about their performance at school – a measure of their implicit beliefs may give us a better idea about how likely they are to succeed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Two researchers set out to find out why some people might be better at achieving goals than others. The answer, they found, could lie in implicit beliefs.
Melissa J. Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Cornell University
Clayton R. Critcher, Associate Professor of Marketing, Cognitive Science, & Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/30303
2014-08-12T20:31:52Z
2014-08-12T20:31:52Z
Private schooling has little long-term pay-off
<p>In a <a href="https://theconversation.com/state-school-kids-do-better-at-uni-29155">recent article for The Conversation</a>, Barbara Preston examined the link between type of school attended and progress at university. Barbara concluded that after controlling for tertiary entrance score, university students from government schools outperformed students from private schools. </p>
<p>This finding suggests that paying for an expensive private school education might not be the best preparation for university study. If this is the case, perhaps parents paying private school fees are looking for longer term pay-offs for their investment.</p>
<h2>So who has more success <em>after</em> university?</h2>
<p>I analysed data from the 12th wave of the <a href="http://www.melbourneinstitute.com/hilda/data/">Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA)</a> project to examine the longer-term outcomes of attending private schools. For the analysis, I selected one respondent aged between 25 and 34 years per household. The majority of young people have completed their education by the age of 25 and are settled in their careers by the age of 34.</p>
<p>Preliminary analysis shows that individuals who attended Catholic or independent schools were more likely to have completed Year 12 and to have graduated from university, after controlling for the effects of parents’ education, age and sex. </p>
<p>But are there differences in labour market outcomes? Here the type of private school is important. Although those who attended a Catholic school were, on average, 1.3 times more likely to be employed on a full-time basis compared to those who attended a government school, former independent school students were no more likely to be employed full-time than those who attended a government school after controlling for the effects of level of education, sex and age.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56241/original/6vn9qby2-1407816765.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56241/original/6vn9qby2-1407816765.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56241/original/6vn9qby2-1407816765.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56241/original/6vn9qby2-1407816765.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56241/original/6vn9qby2-1407816765.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56241/original/6vn9qby2-1407816765.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56241/original/6vn9qby2-1407816765.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56241/original/6vn9qby2-1407816765.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>This result seems to suggest that paying private school fees is no guarantee of securing full-time employment. Given that women in this age cohort are in their prime child-bearing years, I also looked at the effect of interactions between sex and type of school attended; sex and age; and sex and level of education to determine whether there are differences between men and women. As expected, women were less likely than men to be employed full-time.</p>
<p>Next, I examined the earnings of those employed full-time according to type of school attended, controlling for the effects of sex, age and level of education. When it comes to weekly earnings, having attended a private school rather than a government school has no effect. </p>
<p>So there would seem to be no return on the parents’ investment in terms of the earnings of their offspring.</p>
<p>Perhaps parents were seeking to ensure that their offspring secured jobs with high levels of prestige in order to maintain their social status. After taking into account the effects of level of education, sex and age, having attended a Catholic school is associated with higher, on average, levels of occupational prestige than having attended a government school. On average, attendance at an independent school is not associated with higher levels of occupational prestige.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56242/original/728q27h7-1407816813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56242/original/728q27h7-1407816813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56242/original/728q27h7-1407816813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56242/original/728q27h7-1407816813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56242/original/728q27h7-1407816813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56242/original/728q27h7-1407816813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56242/original/728q27h7-1407816813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56242/original/728q27h7-1407816813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<h2>So why choose a private school?</h2>
<p>A closer examination of university graduates may shed some light on this paradox. Of the individuals who had completed a university-level qualification, those who had attended an independent school were more likely to have graduated from a Group of Eight (Go8) university compared to those who attended a government school. However, individuals who had attended a Catholic school were no more likely to have graduated from a Go8 university. Perhaps parents expect that graduation from an elite university would provide a pathway into a higher-paying career.</p>
<p>For university graduates employed on a full-time basis, graduation from a Go8 university had no effect on occupational prestige after taking into consideration the effects of sex, age and type of school attended. There was no pay-off for graduation from a Go8 university in the form of increased earnings, nor did type of school attended have any effect, after controlling for the effects of age, sex and field of study.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56243/original/q7sjh6kk-1407816834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56243/original/q7sjh6kk-1407816834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56243/original/q7sjh6kk-1407816834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56243/original/q7sjh6kk-1407816834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56243/original/q7sjh6kk-1407816834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56243/original/q7sjh6kk-1407816834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56243/original/q7sjh6kk-1407816834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56243/original/q7sjh6kk-1407816834.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>These results must call into question the wisdom of paying private school fees, particularly for independent schools <a href="http://www.exfin.com/private-school-costs">whose fees can be anywhere from</a> $20,000 to $34,000 a year. The massive growth in the number of private schools since the 1990s may be having the effect of diluting the advantages perceived to be attached to private schooling. </p>
<p>If, as these results suggest, there is no long-term advantage to be gained from paying to attend an independent school, why do parents stretch their family budgets to pay private school fees? In a climate where university fees are set to rise, parents across the country may start asking themselves this very question.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30303/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Chesters does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In a recent article for The Conversation, Barbara Preston examined the link between type of school attended and progress at university. Barbara concluded that after controlling for tertiary entrance score…
Jenny Chesters, Research Fellow, University of Canberra
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.