Hidden Potential

I have always been a skeptical of self-help books. What could a self-help book tell you besides the obvious? Work hard, don’t procrastinate, save for retirement—I didn’t need to buy a book to know these things. For most people, the hard part of self-improvement isn’t in what-to-do but the follow-through[^c]. When I saw Hidden Potential prominently displayed in an airport bookshop, my first instinct was to dismiss it, but, for whatever reason, my gaze lingered. I saw an endorsement from Serena Williams.

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.

I decided to put my reservations away and trust the women’s tennis GOAT.

Hidden Potential explores the personal and social strategies you can use to unlock your hidden potential. The book differs from other self-help books in its outward focus. While the first 3 chapters are individualist, discussing character skills, the remaining 6 chapters are collectivist: how to utilize other people as resources for growth. I appreciated Grant’s social emphasis. It’s understandable why most self help books look inward—you can only control yourself—but the truth I have learned over the past 4 years is that success is easier when it is not a solo mission. Climbing obstacles is easier when someone ahead offers a hand to pull you up.

Grant communicates these strategies using case studies, metaphors, and references to scientific literature. Usually, each chapter starts with a parable about a person who overcame adversity. This parable continues throughout the chapter as Grant makes his point. While the stories were captivating, bringing in relatable characters into an otherwise characterless book, and had some illustrative value, I would have preferred to see greater use of scientific studies. Case studies contain educational value, but, as Grant points out in Chapter 5, they can be misleading since their journey can never be the same as yours. I disliked the heavy use of metaphors more. Many struck me as cliche and confusing and dumbed down the book. Grant should trust his ability to communicate complex ideas from psychology, and his audience’s ability to understand them.

[^c] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/03/how-to-change-your-personality-happiness/621306/ is a great article exploring the difficulty of personality change.