When I was a child, there was an advertisement that featured an elephant (a symbol of strength) together with a statement “Bank on the strength … bank (and a prominent bank was named).
When in the US, during my Churchill Fellowship, this advertisement came to mind again because it relates so well to supporting high ability youth. It is important that their strengths are identified, enhanced and celebrated.
I don't know anyone who says "I can't do XYZ … so I'm going to work in the field that requires me to do that." We all utilize our strengths and focus on what we enjoy for our career. Not doing so would lead to a disaster, where individuals are not happy doing things that they are not well suited to, nor would society be well-served.
This is why, when hoping to maximise a student's academic results and when choosing a career, there is emphasis upon what students do well and enjoy doing. We all do our best at whatever we enjoy doing. By 'banking on the strength' with each student, their skills are enhanced, developed and celebrated.
From infancy, children exhibit various strengths. Sometimes, strengths are recognized through individual's nicknames and the roles assigned to small children. These strengths (and recognition of these strengths) become part of the individual's identity.
Everyone should become known by their strength: the one who reads a lot; the mathematician; the healer; the one who is spatially skilled; the one in the family that is always curious; the chess player; the one who is strategic etc.
By focusing on an individual's strengths, there is a strong likelihood that they come to be known by their strengths; they utilize and develop their skills and they choose careers that are well-suited to their talents.
Many adults experience vicariousness (and although this is normal) it is pathological if we want our off-spring to access career paths that we didn't choose or that perhaps were available but (for various reasons) were not selected by us.
Individuals need to identify their own career paths, hopefully ones that use their strengths because these are the most personally satisfying and the ones that epitomize Emeritus Professor Françoys Gagné's concept of Talent Deelopment. With each of his Developmental Models of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT), Gagné focused on how an individual's strengths (also known as natural abilities or gifts) become systematically developed skills (or talents) through a developmental process. It seems to be important to 'bank on the strength.
© Michele Juratowitch
michele@clearingskies.com.au