I pay attention to research about teaching and what helps a student succeed. My thought is that if we want to get better at PalletOne, we need to continue to learn more. If we are going to learn more, we need to have teachers in leadership.

I ran across some research by an Australian psychology professor Arthur E. Poropat. He notes that research shows that both conscientiousness (which he defines as a tendency to be “diligent, dutiful and hardworking”) and openness (characterized by qualities like creativity and curiosity) are better predictors of student performance than intelligence is.

He also notes that ratings of students’ personalities by outside observers like teachers are more strongly linked with academic success than the way students rate themselves.

Two things we can take away from this:

First, studies show that you can’t do much to increase your intelligence, but you can become more conscientious and open with effort and practice. If your effectiveness depends on such things, you can act to change it.

Second, the role of a teacher, coach, mentor or boss is huge in helping people become the best they can be. So often, outsiders see potential, talents and possibilities in us that we don’t know are possible. As a PalletOne leader, one of the best ways we can happen to the world is to work to make others better by coaching, teaching and encouraging.

Getting better is not solely an inside job. To be sure, we can work on our effort and openness. But, we need others for the feedback, instruction and encouragement.