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Book Summary and Reviews of Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

Hidden Potential

The Science of Achieving Greater Things

by Adam Grant

  • Critics' Consensus (9):
  • Published:
  • Oct 2023, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again illuminates how we can elevate ourselves and others to unexpected heights.

We live in a world that's obsessed with talent. We celebrate gifted students in school, natural athletes in sports, and child prodigies in music. But admiring people who start out with innate advantages leads us to overlook the distance we ourselves can travel. We underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. We can all improve at improving. And when opportunity doesn't knock, there are ways to build a door.

Hidden Potential offers a new framework for raising aspirations and exceeding expectations. Adam Grant weaves together groundbreaking evidence, surprising insights, and vivid storytelling that takes us from the classroom to the boardroom, the playground to the Olympics, and underground to outer space. He shows that progress depends less on how hard you work than how well you learn. Growth is not about the genius you possess—it's about the character you develop. Grant explores how to build the character skills and motivational structures to realize our own potential, and how to design systems that create opportunities for those who have been underrated and overlooked.

Many writers have chronicled the habits of superstars who accomplish great things. This book reveals how anyone can rise to achieve greater things. The true measure of your potential is not the height of the peak you've reached, but how far you've climbed to get there.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"The author of Think Again and Originals examines how 'potential is not a matter of where you start, but of how far you travel'"...The author is willing to discuss some of his own setbacks and struggles, which gives the text added authenticity...Writing with authority and clarity, Grant examines how talents can be discovered, developed, and turned into achievement." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Grant is a talented storyteller, though his reliance on anecdotal evidence leaves some doubt as to the replicability of the advice. He's more successful in his data-driven exploration of how to design social systems to bring out the best in people...This intrigues, even if it doesn't always convince." Publishers Weekly

"This brilliant book will shatter your assumptions about what it takes to improve and succeed. I wish I could go back in time and gift it to my younger self. It would've helped me find a more joyful path to progress." —Serena Williams, 23-time Grand Slam singles tennis champion

"This is a book that should be read by parents, leaders, coaches, and every school board member in America. Adam Grant reveals that everything you think about developing potential is wrong." —Mark Cuban, Shark Tank investor, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and cofounder of Cost Plus Drugs

"I read Hidden Potential in one sitting, loved it, and have been thinking about it ever since. Which is the highest praise I can give a book. This is Adam Grant's finest work—it will inspire you to bigger dreams." —Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and host of Revisionist History

"Hidden Potential teaches us to reach new levels of mastery and unlock our greatest resource: our humanity. We would all be better off if we took Adam Grant's wise counsel seriously!" —Yo-Yo Ma, 19-time Grammy-winning cellist

"Wickedly entertaining and deeply insightful, Adam Grant has done it again. You have more in common with Mozart and Steph Curry than you know, and Hidden Potential will show you how to achieve your absolute best. You'll devour it and find yourself begging for more." —U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven, author of Make Your Bed and The Wisdom of the Bullfrog

This information about Hidden Potential was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Adam Grant Author Biography

Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist at Wharton, where he has been the top-rated professor for seven straight years. His books have sold millions of copies, his TED talks have been viewed more than 30 million times, and he hosts the hit podcast Re:Thinking. His pioneering research on motivation and meaning has enabled people to reach their aspirations and exceed others' expectations. His viral piece on languishing was the most-read New York Times article of 2021 and the most-saved article across platforms. He has been recognized as one of the world's ten most influential management thinkers and Fortune's 40 Under 40, and has received distinguished scientific achievement awards from the American Psychological Association and the National Science Foundation. Grant received his B.A. ...

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