Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience

The author of "Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement" was interviewed by NPR.

‘Late Bloomers’ Review: Please Don’t Rush Me
Our culture exalts youthful brilliance over mature achievement. Talent often flourishes later in life, when experience brings wisdom.
By Philip Delves Broughton
Wall Street Journal
April 29, 2019

It’s a nice idea that success can come at any point in life. You don’t have to be Mark Zuckerberg, vaulting up the rich-list rankings in his 20s, or Pete Buttigieg, running for president at 37. You can wait until you are more evolved and take what Rich Karlgaard calls, in “Late Bloomers,” the “slower walk of discovery.”

It’s a message that will doubtless be welcomed by midcareer middle managers or anyone else who feels, well into adult life, that his or her abilities have not been properly put to use or sufficiently recognized. The question, though, is whether it’s true—or at least true at any kind of scale to matter.

“A late bloomer,” Mr. Karlgaard writes, “is a person who fulfills their potential later than expected; they often have talents that aren’t visible to others initially. . . . They are not attempting to satisfy, with gritted teeth, the expectations of their parents or society, a false path that leads to burnout and brittleness, or even to depression and illness.”

These late bloomers stand in contrast to today’s obsession with precocious youth. They are not the ones acing the SAT, starting charitable organizations in their teens or emerging from college garlanded with awards. They don’t scare up millions from venture capitalists before they have bought their first suit; they don’t spend their 20s compiling pitch books at Wall Street banks. Instead, they are moseying around, figuring life out, giving their brain’s prefrontal cortex time to keep forming, which won’t happen until they are 25 at least.

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Late bloomers, Mr. Karlgaard argues, are not just people of great talent who develop later in their lives. They also possess qualities that can only be acquired through time and experience. They tend to be more curious, compassionate, resilient and wise than younger people of equal talent. This may be true, Mr. Karlgaard notes, of older people generally, who are being flushed out of the workforce much too early.

Adapted from the book:

It’s Never Too Late to Start a Brilliant Career
Our obsession with early achievement shortchanges people of all ages. Research shows that our brains keep developing deep into adulthood and so do our capabilities.
By Rich Karlgaard
Wall Street Journal
May 3, 2019

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Jeffrey Arnett, a psychology professor at Clark University, calls the phase from 18 to 30 years old “emerging adulthood,” which he says needs to be recognized as a distinct stage of life, partly spurred by social and economic changes.

Nor is the emergence of mature executive function the end of our cognitive journey. In a 2015 study published in the journal Psychological Science, neuroscientists Laura Germine and Joshua Hartshorne measured the abilities of nearly 50,000 adult subjects of various ages on online cognitive tests. “At any given age, you’re getting better at some things, you’re getting worse at some other things, and you’re at a plateau at some other things,” said Dr. Hartshorne in summing up their conclusions. “There’s probably not one age at which you’re peak on most things, much less all of them.”

In their study, the speed of information processing appeared to peak early, around 18 or 19. Short-term memory continued to improve until around 25 and then leveled off for another decade. The ability to evaluate complex patterns, including other people’s emotional states, on the other hand, peaked much later, when participants were in their 40s or 50s.

These findings validate what previous cognitive research has revealed: Each of us has two types of intelligence, known as fluid and crystallized. Fluid intelligence is our capacity to reason and solve novel problems, independent of knowledge from the past, and it peaks earlier in life. Crystallized intelligence is the ability to use skills, knowledge and experience; it shows rising levels of performance well into middle age and beyond. According to Georgia Tech psychology professor Phillip Ackerman, the best way for older adults to compensate for declines in youthful “fluid” intelligence is to select jobs and goals that optimize their “crystallized” knowledge and skills.

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This matches information in the college board's 2013 report, which shows a 40-year full-time working life, ages 25-64, and also shows only 25% of persons age 65+ participating in the labor force, regardless of level of education. Unfortunately, late bloomers may get nipped in the bud, by employment practices which provide short careers.

The book review article indicates that the author suggests...... which seems to flout age-discrimination laws...
... and which, combined with this article's insight ... causes me to wonder:
- do these positions exist?
- do these positions exist in sufficient quantity to be available for each person in the workforce, as they age?
- to what degree might such positions be replaced by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning?

Might opportunities for employment remain available for author/presenter/consultant/mentor/tutor positions...?
The volunteer role of active, involved grandparent comes to mind... and relates to this excerpt in a thread on Naviance.