Elite talent manifests in two primary ways. An individual is either in the top 0.01% on a single dimension (e.g., tenacity, sales), or they possess a rare Venn diagram of skills that don't typically coexist (e.g., a first-rate technologist who is also a first-rate business strategist).

Bryce Dallas Howard's learning disability tests also revealed she was in the top 1% for common sense. This single data point allowed her to regain confidence and view herself as a "gifted challenged" person, fundamentally changing her approach to her education and career.

Unlike most children who must be told to stop playing, some intellectually gifted children see play as a waste of time and must be actively encouraged to do it. For them, play is not an intuitive activity but a learned skill that must be intentionally developed.

A societal double standard exists for nurturing talent. While child prodigies in sports or music receive enthusiastic support and coaching, academically gifted children are often held back by parents and schools fearing they'll become "weird," ultimately wasting their potential.

Procurement leader Helen Thompson reveals her ADHD diagnosis at age 41 was transformational. It allowed her to understand her unique brain wiring, recontextualizing past challenges and enabling her to consciously harness neurodivergent strengths like creativity and hyper-focus that she couldn't previously leverage systematically.

The idea of a single 'general intelligence' or IQ is misleading because key cognitive abilities exist in a trade-off. For instance, the capacity for broad exploration (finding new solutions) is in tension with the capacity for exploitation (efficiently executing known tasks), which schools and IQ tests primarily measure.

French psychologist Alfred Binet created his test to identify children needing extra educational resources. He explicitly warned against using it to measure innate, fixed intelligence or future potential, a purpose it was later co-opted for in the U.S., which he considered a betrayal.

The advice to simply focus and try harder is flawed because it ignores that people may face struggles, like a learning disability, that effort alone cannot overcome. True success can come from identifying the root problem and providing tailored support, not just demanding more work.

The growing number of neurodivergent candidates is not just a trend driven by new diagnoses. It is a positive outcome of an educational system that successfully mainstreamed students, teaching them skills to manage their differences and thrive, creating a valuable new talent pipeline for employers.