Personal Reflection: How Children Succeed
How Children Succeed is a thought provoking book supported with both anecdotal evidence and rich empirical research that questions our society’s universally accepted belief that success in life primarily depends on cognitive skills. Such skills are commonly measured by standardized tests, such as IQ scores, that some argue reach their peak performance by age eight. The book posits the notion that what matters most in a child’s development happens in the first few years of life and more subtle noncognitive skills (also known as personality traits or character) are better predictors of life success than learning vocabulary of math. Tough’s idea has implications for my own leadership, learning, service, and research which are addressed in the remainder of this paper.
Tough’s work recapped many studies conducted by doctors, educators, and researchers addressing the number of adults that are affected by the physiological effects from early childhood trauma or unmanaged stress. Life is filled with tasks that require executive functions of the brain which in essence have been high jacked from a large portion of our society early in life. How do those individuals then become successful if they lack in abilities to be curious, self-reliant, calm, and resilient? I believe this is where mindful leaders are more necessary than ever before. The role of the leader is to develop capacity in others. Nurture and nature responds to compatible nurture. Tough provides examples of mentors who have appropriately tended to individuals and even in adulthood while such individuals can’t undo the damage of stress, they can heal and expand their capacities in executive functioning. Mindful purpose is the nurture of intelligence. All children and adults learn different and have been exposed to different beginnings. It’s important for leaders to understand, identify, and empathize with individuals who may not have had a nurturing beginning.
Focus: Interesting read, but I wish there would be one visual picture labeled with all the parts that Goleman references. Wasn’t my favorite book.
Leadership, Learning, Service & Research 