Think about the star of your high school musical. Or the football team. Or whatever made you and your classmates jealous.
You probably remember their name. They were the star of everything.
And it came to them so easily, right? They were talented. They had it made.
But what are they doing now?
Finding out that talent doesn’t equal success is a hard landing. It seems counterintuitive — to make things work out right, you should have to be talented! Success should come to you!
But it’s the opposite, And often, talent can get in your way.
Social scientist David Livermore writes in his book The Cultural Intelligence Differencethat the talent of success has to do with CQ: cultural intelligence.
It’s not about singing, or writing poems; it’s the talent of translating between cultures to understand someone else, and to improve yourself. It’s not about getting better on your own, practicing in your bedroom; it’s learning how to communicate with others, so you can make something that works.
Talent is solo. Success is a group effort.
