Recentering what matters for success
looking beyond the trends-- an important contrarian approach
I recently picked up all of William Damon’s books after reading The Path to Purpose (not connected with The Grit Institute’s Paths to Purpose course, but it could have been!) and am now deep into Greater Expectations. Damon is the head of Stanford’s Center for Adolescence, and has for decades been a leading researcher into human development (previously head of the Center for Human Development at Brown University). His writing is frank, unemotional and unapologetically contrary to many of his colleagues and the trends you and I know so well we’ve likely internalized them as truths, even if there is are aspects of these supposed truths that just don’t make sense, that you sense in your heart are incorrect, that you’ve seen in your life is simply wrong.
While Damon’s current work centers on adolescents, I suspect he would say (we are setting up a time to talk) that the issues he addresses are very much human issues, and adolescents are particularly malleable humans who turn rather quickly into adults, and then become adults significantly affected by their adolescent experiences. In a sense then, this is about the current state and the future of humankind— which makes up our families and our workforces.
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When I work with clients and hear about challenges many face, often with younger employees, Damon’s research and decades of work is right on, again and again. And so whether your interest is in young people still in school and about to enter your workforce— or in your organization right now— you can’t afford not to understand this important and contrary work. (note the decline in test scores— over DECADES, as well as the youth mental health crisis, and continue your research; there is no positive data here).
There is no question that Damon’s work will be a significant influence on my current work in progress, which I hope will find a home (and thus be on it’s long and winding way to you!) this year. But let’s consider a few places where we can work on recentering.
If you have a child in your life in any way-- your own, a niece or nephew— you undoubtedly know the almost religious fervor around particular differences being suggested and celebrated at schools, something deeply troubling for the majority of Americans, if the polls are to be believed. Understanding oneself is certainly a part of adolescence, but the centering of attention on the individual is very recent and dangerous— according not only to Damon, but earlier thinkers including Frankl and others — as well as damaging for individuals and our culture as a whole.
We need to recenter education on purpose. Adolescents and adults alike need it. Purpose is not within, but rather by definition outside of oneself. It is living for the greater whole. Navel gazing causes neuroses (a reference not intended to be a technical term; I’d leave that to the experts); an orientation toward the greater good develops character and confidence.
Damon defines purpose as “a stabilized and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at the same time meaningful to the self and consequential to the world beyond the self.” That is to say— we have individual purposes— we are not simply cogs in the wheel of the large machine— but we are called uniquely in specific ways to contribute. Not simply to be (that’s another inquiry— also important) but to contribute. Purpose includes being— and direct that being outward for good. Contribution is a human need. Purpose is part of a healthy person.
Because references to humans on the savannah or in the early industrial times are in vogue in conversations around human development (for the former) and education (for the latter), it bears reminding that not so long ago, adolescents would either be deeply engaged in a trade following in the footsteps and career path of a parent, working on the farm, or attending a focused and highly rigorous schooling. Any option would have been demanding and rigorous. Expectations would be high. Youth would have known the reasons for doing the work, and the cost of failure. (by the way— loved seeing this snippet from a longer conversation between Adam Grant and Jennifer Garner on this.)
This is in direct opposition to ideas that adolescents need to be in programs that are child-led, an assumption Damon dismantles in its lack of credibility, as erroneously evolved from the writings of Piaget in the early 20th century and leading only to amorphous academic pedagogy and a lack of rigor in education. This is interesting— because you have to look at the developments in psychology to see where its application has gone awry.
Adolescents— and all of us— are built for challenge. We need it. We crave it. But not for its own sake— we need to understand challenge as a part of our purpose. If you bristle at what these last two paragraphs suggest, I strongly suggest reading Greater Expectations.
So in a nutshell: if we’ve gone off the rails in how it is the we work with adolescents (and all indicators suggest that we have), which leads to challenges in the workforce later, what can we do to begin to correct, as quickly as possible?
(A brief interruption with a plug for tools for a great new year! (Grit Institute partners)
Monk Manual: this is what I use and I love it. I’ve tried them all (well, a lot of them anyway) and this is the best planner for aesthetics, and the balance of being and doing. Use the discount code SHANNONHPOLSON.
Baronfig: I ordered the Atomic Habits pens for myself and as gifts over the holidays. Beautiful products that inspire you to action, and pair quite well with the Monk Manual! Use the discount code SHANNONHPOLSON.
Big Life Journal: for adults AND for your kids, this gives you work to do on developing growth mindsets and GRIT! We use this in our family, and have for several years. Use the code GRIT15 for a discount.
Damon suggests sensible and manageable approaches, which you may find work well with younger employees as well. Here are his recommendations distilled into seven straightforward steps: