Little Bets by Peter Sims

Author:Peter Sims [Sims, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Business & Economics, Decision-Making & Problem Solving, Psychology, Movements, Behaviorism
ISBN: 9781409038030
Google: 6GTZT7YoHikC
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2011-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

These findings raise an important question: Why are some people voracious questioners and others are not? Exploring the drivers of inquisitiveness, Gregersen and Dyer gathered interesting insights about our approach to education. “If you look at four-year-olds, they are constantly asking questions and wondering how things work,” Gregersen observed generally. “But by the time they are six and a half years old they stop asking questions because they quickly learn that teachers value the right answers more than provocative questions.” It’s a haunting finding that raises serious concern about our education system. Specifically, what is the purpose of education? Is it to convey knowledge, as the current system is weighted, or it to inspire and nurture an ability to constantly learn?

Probing into this puzzle, Gregersen and Dyer were intrigued to learn that a number of the innovators in their study went to Montessori schools, where they learned to follow their curiosity. The Montessori learning method, founded by Maria Montessori, emphasizes self-directed student learning, particularly for young children. Well-known Montessori alums include Google’s founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page, who credit their Montessori education as a major factor behind their success, Jeff Bezos, and computer game pioneer Will Wright, as well as Julia Child.

The innovators got encouragement to pursue their intrinsic interests from parents, teachers, neighbors, other family members, and the like. As Gregersen shared, “We were struck by the stories they told about being sustained by people who cared about experimentation and exploration.” It’s a powerful finding that emerges time and again. Instead of placing significant value on external measures of achievement, parents of those who become successful creatives tend to emphasize pursuing whatever interests they have. Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter, for example, was interested in cartoons from a young age and was encouraged by his mother to pursue drawing them as a career, starting with art school. The singers and songwriters I interviewed, including John Legend and Kevin Brereton, were heavily influenced during childhood by their families’ extensive music collections.

That’s not to say that the parents of highly successful creative types don’t have high expectations for their kids. They do. But, as with John Lasseter, John Legend, or Kevin Brereton, their parents tend to support their kids’ natural pursuits, while also stressing work ethic and quality. These patterns, ironically enough, tie back to Carol Dweck’s findings on fixed versus growth mind-sets; fostering a questioning mind is also fostering one that is predisposed to a growth perspective. The implications for parents and educators are significant and worthy of further research.

For those of us who are already grown up, acting like anthropologists is one of the most powerful ways to help us formulate the questions that will uncover invaluable insights and answers. And in so doing, it’s important not only to dive deep into particular, selected environments, as Muhammad Yunus did, but also to go wide.

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