Talents as truth revealed

Amidst all the clutter of psychological pain and personal histories that obscure under-developed abilities, discerning someone's hidden talents calls for great pattern-recognition abilities. Recognizing a hidden talent is a lot like playing "Where's Waldo? or finding the obscure animals in the bushes of an illustrated children's book. The distractions people dish out can be overwhelming and very misleading. The majority of the superficial evidence usually says there is:

• "no talent hiding in what you're seeing"
• "nothing here to develop"
• "no way this person will become more resourceful"

The more talents I successfully recognize, the more I realize they were there all along. The talents merely needed someone to see them clearly and act as if they are real. These talents are the truth of the person being revealed to anyone who seeks another's authenticity. Finding this truth frees me of their dramatic distractions and frees them of their chronic limitations. Discovering this truth is a rewarding experience for both of us.

When we watch someone argue for their limitations, we can get a sense of their truth. If it seems like they're lying, faking it or covering up the truth. That feeling I get of being misled makes me curious about what will soon be revealed. I feel like a detective on the prowl for clues with my wonder/fascination dial set on "full power". I watch with intense powers of observation for what will be leaked, hinted about or suggested indirectly.

When I suggest to someone they have a hidden talent, I usually avoid a direct confrontation. Rather I pose a scenario, wonder out loud about a possibility or pose a choice that has been overlooked. When that someone realizes the talent I suspected was there all along, she or he says things like:

• I've had glimpses of being into this all my life but I've disregarded it to deal with other obligations
• I really do have a natural fascination and ability to contribute in this way
• Now that I see it, I cannot stop thinking about developing this talent in me
• No wonder I keep having dreams and running into coincidences that call my attention to this talent

When reflections like those get made, I know the truth of their talent has been revealed. We're on the right track and barking up the right tree. The mystery of "what the talent is?" has been solved. Now the mystery of "how it will develop fully and make a difference? can be explored.

Doing the right thing

You may already know the distinction between "doing the thing right" and "doing the right thing". We get things done right with the application of the right method, technique or procedure. It usually take practice to get it right. We discover how we are messing it up, assuming incorrectly or skipping a step in the process of trying to get it right. Doing things right can be done by our left brains' lines of reasoning.

Our left brain, linear thinking cannot come up with the right thing to do. There are too many considerations, consequences and complications involved in the choice. There's no way to know the right proportion of something, right balance between two things, right sequence for a series of steps, right timing for the first move and right combination of efforts to achieve the desired repercussions. If we consider the "butterfly effect" from chaos theory, everything everywhere is implicated in our choice of what, how and when to do something. It's not reasonable or limited in scope.

Doing the right thing is a hidden talent for most of us. It would dawn on our minds from the collective unconscious accessed by our right brains. It takes not knowing so as to be open to receiving inspirations. It involves enough humility to go against our logical reasoning, past experiences and fear-based premises. The right thing to do often goes out on a limb, defies consensual expectations and challenges our own preconceptions.

When we've cultivated other hidden talents, we are much more amenable the challenges of doing the right thing. We've become accustomed to the use of our right brains. We've got experience with getting inspirations from the collective unconscious. We're familiar with "doing our own thing" in spite of what others think. We're hooked on the inner satisfactions of following our inner guidance.

Imagine if everyone had cultivated their talent for doing the right thing. Every problem we've caused ourselves would get resolved. Every trouble-spot on the planet would be supplied with the right solutions. Every pending environmental crisis would be dissipated and future ones prevented. The issues we blog about to get more attention paid particular problem areas would be widely recognized and handled superbly.

Where do our talents get hidden?

The different kinds of dreams, we have each night, give us clues about where our hidden talents might be found. Our dreams show us different possibilities than we've been thinking about people in our lives and the situations were facing. We don't actually know where our dreams come from or how we come up with that stuff. Dreams arise from facets of our unconscious minds that are in us but beyond our conscious awareness.

Most of our dreams deal with small, unresolved issues in our personal lives. They often appear to compensate for our one-sided experiences. They may inflate our low estimation of ourselves or deflate our exaggerated self-confidence. If we're wallowing in self-pity, we might have a rescue-fantasy or wish-fulfillment dream. If we're defending one right answer, we may have a nightmare to dismantle our arrogance and reveal our underlying fears. Our small dreams deal with our unmet need to depend on others, our unresolved power-identity with parental authority figures and changing identity though our personal history. Hidden talents remain out-of-sight in these nightly dramas that arise from our "personal unconscious".

Occasionally we will have a "big dream" with captivating symbolism and unforgettable significance. These dreams speak to what we're capable of and called to do. They reveal what will give us a deep sense of purpose, destiny and value congruence. They show us we have hidden talents to develop. These dreams give us symbolism of having a soul that knows us to be one-of-a-kind. We're attracted to this soul-mate, dream character who appears as our perfect "hottie". We learn from him/her how we've got a part to play and a contribution to make with this uniqueness found within our unconscious minds. Our motivation to pursue this is intoxicating love, not fear, guilt or social obligations. We're seen as serving a whole situation with what we have in us. Our talents appear in the context of a "collective unconscious" with archetypal imagery and patterns.

Both kinds of dreams play a part in getting talents to come out of hiding. The dramas in our small dreams show us how we've internalized opposition to be becoming more talented. Our needs to fit in, play along and avoid getting ostracized -- regard our hidden talents as threats. We're motivated by fear to keep our talents hidden. Any development toward greater uniqueness could amount to been seen as a misfit, loser or outsider. While we're still desperately seeking people to depend upon and ways to hold our own around powerful rivals, hidden talents are a hot button issue.

When a big dream has revealed the hidden talent to develop, the small dreams define the challenge accurately. The process involves several changes in how we see ourselves and our lives. We realize:

• we are the ones to establish our self-respect and others will really respect us only after we respect ourselves
• we are the one person we can really depend upon and we're better off not trying to depend on others like we did as kids
• we give ourselves authentic power by choosing to feel powerful, rather than thinking we have more power by upstaging, embarrassing or defeating others
• we get to say "who we really are" and "what our intentions are", rather than being tossed around by others' opinions and conjectures
• we are better off being unique and called to a purpose found within, rather than appeasing others who are rarely satisfied with our conduct
• we have different values to enact which are deeply fulfilling, unlike the ways we agree, collude or appease other's positional stances
• we have the right stuff in us to create gifts for this world that become very satisfying experiences for ourselves, as we bring our hidden talents to fruition

Once we come to these realizations, our inner hottie is thrilled with us. The situations in our dreams have happy endings. We're shown how we've "got it together" at last and we're free to be true to ourselves.

Experiencing total solutions

Talent development systems - Part five
The final episode in the cultivation of hidden talents - imagined as a responsive system

When a belief system incorporates numerous ways to "hold it's horses", the runaway closed circuit becomes a total solution. The system works for the people inside and outside of the boundaries. The system "makes it our business" to serve everyone in some way instead of insisting "it's none of our business". It responds to requests and complaints in ways that enrich everyone involved. It has uses for every experience within the context of the system and becomes more useful as it evolves.

When talent development is served by a total solution, people with hidden talents experience getting validated, supported, understood and challenged. Those working for the system as mentors, managers and HR staff also gain self respect, significant value and expanded horizons to explore. The system itself becomes more responsive to breakdowns and its own excesses.

Any total solution is designed to give the user a valuable experience at every turn. Rather than congratulate itself for it's consistency, the system validates the user for providing some deviance. The users' resistance is taken as a form of cooperation. Their defiance is a welcome sight and taken constructively. The users' problems are "no problem" for the total solution. The stability of the system depends on the negative feedback from users to become responsive to changing situations.

Total solutions function as discovery systems. They learn as they go from what happens to the system in its context. The system becomes more responsive and resilient as it becomes more capable of providing solutions to new deviance. The system is inherently curious about what is changing and formulating better questions as it explores new possibilities. The system outgrows reflexive thinking as it reflects more on what it has discovered.

Total solutions support acts of generosity. The practice of "gift economies", "giver's gain" and "pay it forward" principles get rewarded. The system can value outsider contributions because it is self-regulating and open to contrary inputs. The system benefits from what it gives to others because it's set up for it to come back around. Processes are reciprocal like mentoring on the take. The system guards against "abusing the user", "exploiting volunteers" or "punishing initiative". Contributions from everyone involved flourish like they do in democratized, long tail markets.

Total solutions deploy "non-dual awareness" of people and processes. Employees are seen as internal customers to be well-served, as well as essential components to the delivery of reliable services. Customers are perceived as external employees who sell the system to others, as well as users of what the system delivers. The system is both stable and evolving. The value provided, learning realized and motivations engaged are both extrinsic and intrinsic. The meaning of the experiences in the system are both explicit and inferred.

Total solutions evolve from partial solutions. Belief systems become total solutions as they incorporate more logic switches and negative feedback subroutines. The system becomes more complex by responding to deviance with the intention better serve itself and others. As people become more talented in their lives, the system becomes more talented in cultivating hidden talents in everyone involved.

Hold your horses

Talent development systems - Part four
A continuing series on how the cultivation of hidden talents can be imagined as a responsive system

Closed systems are runaway circuits with no capability to slow down or stop themselves. They are totally sold on what they do. They don't listen to reason, moderation or feedback. When subroutines are added to a runaway circuit, all that changes. The closed system is now an open system. The double-loop circuitry questions the ongoing continuity, consistency and commitment. By considering "how much is too much" and "when is it time for counter-balancing this?" the system can slow down and switch itself off into a subroutine. A" logic switch" is introduced into the "over-determined strategic loop". The system now has a choice to do more or less of it's reliable service.

Closed systems are called "positive feedback systems" because every node calls for more of the next thing. The mathematical formula to equate the two nodes can be graphed. The slope on the curve is positive: more x produces more y; more y comes from more x. More hidden talent results in more system responses. Negative feedback has an inverse relationship between the nodes: more x produces less y; more y comes from less x. More hidden talent yields fewer system responses.

Closed systems are prone to system crashes because of their singular obsessions with positive feedback. They need subroutines that contradict the system's underlying belief. By going against the premise of every step in the closed circuit, stability is introduced into the system. It is characterized as robust and resilient due to the incorporation of a negative feedback subsystem. The logic switch can go for more or less, go further or stop advancing, continue or sidetrack the progress.

A talent development system could get carried away with itself in any of these ways:

• Too many identified talents to develop at once
• Too many options for how to get experience with each new talent
• Too many issues to consider when planning how to develop a latent talent
• Too much feedback to process after giving a new talent a try
• Too many problems resulting from the use of an underdeveloped talent
• Too frequent occasions to focus on talent development instead of other objectives
• Too much peer or management pressure to cultivate hidden talents
• Too much analyzing of past attempts which inhibit further experiments
• Too many reckless explorations in need of clean-up and rework
• Too complicated an approach for casual developers of hidden talents to use

If these excess go unchecked, the talent development system will simply be abandoned. It won't appear useful to the users, so it won't get used by them. Thus, the user's experience in the system is a leading indicator of where error checking needs to be inserted. Questions need to be asked at junctures where the user may be having a dysfunctional experience. As I reviewed in preventing system crashes, the system needs to be on the lookout for users who are feeling disoriented, inhibited, defeated or overzealous. The early warning signs need to be recognized and utilized to interrupt the momentum of the closed system..

These error-checking switches make it the system design's responsibility to be useful in the eyes of the user. This is a customer-service system, not a content delivery system. There is no guilt trip put on the user who finds the system useless. The system corrects itself, rather than fixing the user. A subroutine is switched into where the user gets help while taking time out from the closed loop. The system offers solutions for developing talents and for breakdowns in progress.

Inside a belief system

Talent development systems - Part three
A continuing series on how the cultivation of hidden talents can be imagined as a responsive system

The delivery of any consistent service, value or experience is built around a closed system. There is a single loop that congratulates itself for doing what it's designed to do. The positive feedback produced by the system indicates it's always time for more of the same components, sequence and outputs. The underlying premise goes unquestioned. The system cannot change its own rules. There is no choice but to try harder, maintaining the success pattern as it insists on persisting.

Closed systems are belief systems. They manufacture self-confirming evidence of the underlying belief. They create experiences for everyone engaged in the system of how the belief is true, factual and unavoidable. The belief is ubiquitous and taken for granted. It's assumption "goes without saying" and "seems perfectly reasonable" to the insiders of the system.

Any functional talent development system operates a closed system. It believes without question that everyone has hidden talents to cultivate. It does not challenge this presupposition or test this hypothesis. It assumes hidden talent is true and proceeds from that belief. It goes round in circles of the basis of developing hidden talents. Here's one cycle that occurs in someone's mind, that can be externalized into conversations with others:

1. Formulating hypotheses: What if you have many hidden talents to develop? What if you've already developed some hidden potentials and can replicate that success? What if your hidden talents are like seeds that need time to grow and that cannot be hurried? What if you've already had a glimmer of the next talent to develop and have experienced some encouragement to proceed in this direction? What if the discouragement you've received has nothing to do with developing your talent, only with other's needs to be in control or to avoid feeling envious of you?
2. Strategyzing approaches: How will you verify that this possible talent is more than a passing fancy for you? How will you discover what comes naturally to you when you act as if you have this talent? How will you get practice exercising this latent ability to strengthen and refine it? How will you gain confidence in this potential in order to apply it more often? How will you recognize opportunities to utilize this talent before it's recognized by others as one of your assets?
3. Biasing interactions: How was that recent conversation proof that you've got this talent in you? How is the feedback you've received confirming your suspicion about this new capability? How are the differences between you and them providing evidence of your hidden talent coming to fruition? How is the impact you're having on the situation showing your that this possibility is really worth developing further? How are those relationships, affected by this new trait of yours, revealing how it's valuable to others for you to act this way?
4. Evaluating outcomes: How much confidence have you gained in this new talent? How much progress have you made in cultivating this ability? How much have you refined this potential in you to be valuable, effective and useful in situations? How have you gained practice at using this trait and discovered more depth to its possibility? How have you changed your initial ideas about this talent to appreciate it with more insight, complexity and fascination?

As this closed loop cycles around, new hypotheses will be generated. There will be incremental (first order) changes as the hidden talents get cultivated in steps and stages. The system can only deliver more of the same validation, encouragement and insistence. It maintains its belief in the development of talent.

Capturing the complexity

Talent development systems - Part two
A continuing series on how the cultivation of hidden talents can be imagined as a responsive system

When we design any system, we are modeling several other processes. A systems analysis captures how things happen prior to creating a system to facilitate those events. The staggering complexity of the world needs to be simplified to create a viable system design. The success of a system depends on how the complexity gets captured.

Talent development processes can be modeled several different ways:

• As occurring within the mind of the person who has the hidden talent and brings it to full realization with her/his personal motivation, curiosity, reflection, experiences, etc.
• As occurring between the individual and his/her context which includes opportunities to explore the possible new talent, pressures to cultivate new capabilities, etc.
• As occurring between people such as a mentor & protege, coach & player, manager & direct report, leader & team members, etc
• As occurring within a formal framework of procedures, events, meetings, progress reports, assessments, feedback sessions, etc.

Choosing between these alternatives becomes easier when we can anticipate the consequences of making each choice.

When we regard ongoing processes as objects, we make reductionistic errors. We mistake the continually changing dynamics for a constant condition. We assume the variability occurs within a predictable range. We become perfectionistic about how it should look and intolerant of countless human variations and situational influences. When creating a talent development system, we might cause ourselves problems by regarding talents as things rather than processes in flux. We would certainly do more harm than good by viewing the users as system components rather than unique, evolving individuals.

When we picture interactions between people, issues of power often disrupt the intended system. We want the people involved to coordinate, cooperate, communicate and collaborate with each other. We diagram them as equal nodes in cycles of ongoing interactions. We assume they can get along. Contrary to the design intentions, people get into power struggles if they are rivals, peers or equals. Likewise they fall into cycles of abuse, domination, or persecution if there is a significant power differential between them. When creating a talent development system, power conflicts could emerge between users of the system and the mentors involved, the managers overseeing the developments or other users of the system competing for particular job openings.

When we portray a process as sequential steps, we disregard the cyclical dynamics that may dominate a user's experience. The design assume that linear progress is being made as steps are taken toward a goal. However, the user feels drained by a vicious cycle of perpetual over-reactions to irritations. The users speak of "spinning our wheels", "here we go again" and "enduring pointless repetition". There's no escape from the cycle without dropping out of the system entirely. When creating a talent development system, vicious cycles could emerge in linear sequences to qualify for a position, to comply with requirements or to report on progress.

When we only capture the information flowing in one direction, we fail to incorporate all the informal feedback in the system. We know what the system is telling the users, but not what is being told to the system. The system delivers services without discovering what effects it's having, what to learn from the users' experiences or how to better respond to the situations created by the system design and user needs. When creating a talent development system, the users may talk among themselves about how useless, ineffective, bogus or unresponsive the system has become in their their experience.

As I considered all these issues, I concluded that the prototype talent development system would be least problematic with the first approach. By modeling the development of talent within the mind of a person, these pitfalls can be avoided. The user of the system is in control and maintaining his/her own talent development processes. The user asks for help and then externalizes the current issues for others to lend support. There is no dependency on, disruption by or struggle against a system that models the processes in a less effective way. The complexity is captured in a way that works.

Preventing system crashes

Talent development systems - Part one
For the past week, I've been designing a prototype talent development system. It will take the next several posts on this blog to sketch out the design of this possibility adequately. In the process of presenting this design, you'll see several principles of system design in use by me.

A system design responds to the context it which it will function. The system needs as much complexity as the context to respond to varied changes in and extended ranges of input. When a system lacks sufficient complexity (requisite variety) , it malfunctions, overloads itself or crashes. The system cannot handle what it is asked to do. The system design over-simplified the problem, made gross assumptions or overlooked significant issues.

This prototype design anticipates four potential system crashes spawned by dysfunctional experiences of the system users:

• Disoriented system users: feeling lost, overwhelmed by too many options, confused by what is expected of them, unfamiliar with the procedural steps, expecting something very different than this, stressed out by this imposition on them, conflicted about seeing this through, becoming suspicious of the value proposition, regressing into childish behaviors
• Inhibited system users: trapped in the idea stage, incapable of follow through, all talk and no show, self-sabotaging their success, missing the milestones, stuck in the starting blocks, in no shape to shape up, going nowhere quickly
• Defeated system users: derailed by the adversity, shot down by friendly fire, disheartened by too many obstacles, turning opportunities into unwelcome threats, voicing their "customer complaints", reduced to "fight or flight" mode, put on the defensive
• Over-zealous system users: gone overboard, addicted to the system, compulsively doing more immediately, losing sight of the mission, fallen for excessive devotion, tactically fixated, possessed by the urge to try harder, going to a reckless extreme

Robust system designs incorporate added functionality to safe guard against system crashes. The incoming problem is "no problem" because a solution is already designed into the system. The negative experience of the user is transformed into feeling respected, included, understood and well-served. This often yields some fallout like more buy-in, deeper commitment, and better buzz. This prototype design handles the negative user experiences as follows:

• Disoriented system users enter a "help subsystem" to become more oriented. Their disorientation is captured by menus, questionnaires or interviews. A response is generated that addresses their concern and expects the user to refine the search, question or problem definition. This cycle repeats until the user feels capable of making informed choices.
• Inhibited system users enter a mentoring session to transform their emotional baggage, hot buttons, toxic introject or chronic childishness. Some version of cognitive-behavioral therapy will reframe the presenting problem and resolve the underlying issues.
• Defeated system users go through an after-action review with a coach. The situations and user responses will be rehashed to consider other useful perceptions, interpretations and interactions. Help will be provided for troubleshooting breakdowns, solving problems and reformulating strategies.
• Over-zealous system users take a break to explore a "big-picture" process. The development of their talent is put in perspective with other valid goals. Balance is restored as other objectives are brought into the game plan. Tempo and timing issues are reconsidered in light of the overall mission.

As a system learns from what happens to its users, it discovers what additional functionality is needed to avoid dysfunctional user experiences. A talent development system may experience contextual pressure to become multi-lingual or offer it's responses 24/7. The system may get diagnosed as over-responsive to particular constituencies and inaccessible to others. The system itself may create or feed the problems that appear as disoriented, inhibited, defeated, or over-zealous users. There may be other dysfunctional user experiences that crash the system (violent behavior, erotic misconduct, medical crises, weather-related disruptions, etc.) The design may need modification if the time it takes to prevent system crashes proves too costly. The quality of the responses during the "time outs" may be widely varied, inadequate or excessive.

As you replicate or modify the line of reasoning I've used here, you could also refine your designs for other systems that generate functional and dysfunctional user experiences.

Got hidden talents?

With all this exploration of hidden talents I've pursued for the past two weeks, you may be wondering if you've got some yourself. While I've been exploring the challenge of recognizing talents in others, it's also been time to help you to find those within yourself. When our own talents are hidden, we don't know we have them or don't admit the possibility to ourselves. The talents are in our unconscious mind where we cannot think about them logically.

This calls for some detective work. Here are some places to look for your own hidden talents:

1. Idolizing particular people: Perhaps there are a few people whom you admire greatly. You put them on a pedestal because of traits they possess or skills they use. You may look up to them for the way they treat people or make a difference in the world. You are doing this because of what you're capable of yourself. You're seeing qualities in them that show you what you will aspire to, cultivate and express like them someday. They would not capture your attention or win your admiration if you had nothing in your unconscious to project onto them.
2. Appearing awesome in dreams: Perhaps you've dreamt of yourself acting differently, playing a new role or handling strange situations. You have have pictured yourself being more competent, respected or relied upon by others. These dreams are revealing a hidden talent of yours in scenarios where your talent has been consciously realized. Awakening from dreams like these may leave feeling unusually confident, optimistic or resourceful. (When we dream of being incompetent, that does not mean we're going to be inept. It's picturing us as the product of systems that undervalue us, invalidate us or exploit us as pawns in their power-trips)
3. Possessed by unexpected passions: Perhaps there are tasks you do occasionally where you feel out of character. You become more excited, dedicated, industrious or meticulous than usual. You find you are caring more, extra- energized and far more attentive than you typically act. These are signs of a hidden talent ready to burst into consciousness.
4. Unexpected stretch assignments: Perhaps you've been asked to do something beyond your current abilities. Others may be seeing potential in you that you don't realize you've got. You may be getting asked to help out on a task that will show you something new about yourself, or give you eye-opening experiences. These are indications of a hidden talent that's dropping clues that others can see and help you cultivate.

All these ways that hidden talents become revealed to you suggest approaching this challenge as a mystery. Rather than rely on what you know about yourself, assume your hidden talents are something you have no clue about. Expect to be surprised or challenged by the discoveries. Count on not-knowing what to think about your talents being more helpful than what you already can explain about yourself. Then you'll be open to clues, watching for signs and wise to the revelations when they occur.

Ability to see hidden talents

How is it possible to recognize that another person has some hidden potential? The ability to see what others don't know about themselves may be a talent in itself. Recognizing under-developed traits in others is possibly a sign of maturity that comes with age. Seeing hidden talents may also require several other valuable character traits.

When we've established self-respect, we're in a position of respect others. We will then look for ways they can respect themselves more, admire their accomplishments and expect greater things of their latent abilities. We're on solid ground with ourselves and free to disregard others' caustic opinions of us. We see the harm that comes from pandering for other's approval. We naturally give other's the same permission to be respectful of themselves.

When we understand ourselves deeply, we seem to be several different people inside taking turns at showing up in the world. We realize how we fill different roles without conflict, acting like very different characters in different situations. With this comes a sense of other people we could be and many "right ways to live". We become far more tolerant and understanding of others. We're no longer threatened by differences from us or their deviation from a pretentious norm.

As we get in touch with our feelings, we accept our full range of emotions. We then become more sensitive to others' feelings, moods and vulnerabilities. We become more gracious and considerate of others' feelings. We also then trust our own feelings as a guide of where to make a difference and what to avoid. We give others the sense that their feelings are valuable, informative and essential.

As we tune into other people's world views, we develop multiple perspectives for viewing situations. We can make sense from varied points of view and imagine others doing the same. We can then empathize with ways of seeing a situation unlike our own. We allow others to comprehend their challenges with their own frames of reference for starters. We give validation before education. Stephen Covey advises, we "seek first to understand, then to be understood".

Taking tall this into consideration, it seems that our ability, to see hidden talents in others, emerges with the development of our own talents.

Viral hidden talents?

What if it "takes one to know one" when cultivating hidden talents? Perhaps it requires having refined one's own talents in order to see them in others. It's possible that the basis for recognizing hidden talents in others is those talents that were repressed in us. Then getting mentored, reflected upon by others, or coached in a talent development system will initiate the ability to see talents in others..

What if hidden talents are cyclical? Perhaps the realization of latent traits and abilities conforms to the dynamic of "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer". When we assume we have no hidden talents worth developing, we become less talented and resourceful. We go into a downward spiral. When we appreciate what talents we've found in us, we become more capable, innovative and ingenious. We soar inside a self-reinforcing (positive feedback) loop. Then anyone's task is to start appreciating the talents that are already in play.

What if hidden talents are highly contagious? Perhaps we catch on to realizing our under-developed traits by exposure to people in the same condition. When we're discovering new possibilities and abilities, we give off an impression. It's obvious to others how we are being fulfilled, finding more meaning in our lives, and looking forward to new adventures. It's possible others could get infected by this atmosphere. Then the challenge is to get immersed among colleagues and/or communities who are evolving rapidly now.

What if hidden talents emerge when conditions are ripe? Perhaps they blossom in the warmth of other's respect, admiration, encouragement and validation. It's obvious to me that my efforts to make others' talents develop usually backfires, while they come to fruition on their own schedule. It's possible their latent abilities require a critical mass of favorable conditions before they burst into full realization. Then the blossoming of talents calls for getting out of dramas trafficking in patterns for chronic childishness.

Derailed by chronic childishness

A fully developed talent is a paradox of wisdom and innocence. As the slight inclination toward a possibility becomes a fully realized capability, we become as insightful as tribal elders and as unassuming as children. We approach the gifts we found inside us with a sense of all-knowing insight and not-knowing what the mystery will bring to us next. The talent is not a thing to cling to or show off. It eludes our thinking and deepens our lives.

The cultivation of hidden talents can go awry by getting trapped in chronic childishness. We embody a "wounded inner child" and act out our incessantly, immature impulses. We play the part of the powerless peasant in those under-developed countries ruled by tyrants. Like the problem with a toxic inner voice, there appears to be no escape until we are fully aware of the patterns in the problem.

Here are the seven, most common ways that I've seen childishness interfering with the cultivation of hidden talents:

1. Infantile grandiosity: Our talents remain under-developed whenever we become over-impressed with ourselves. We over-sell our limited capabilities and over-extend our scarce resources. It appears we are over-compensating for some perceived lack by showing off and acting like royalty before our unruly subjects. We are so full of ourselves we cannot admit to errors, other responsibilities, our effects on others or other potentials to find within ourselves.
2. Morbid dependency on authority figures: We arrest the cultivation of hidden talents when we act like we need a mommy or daddy figure. We depend on an exalted superior to tell us what to think, decide and choose. We cannot make up our own mind or question their authority. We play it small and keep ourselves in a lowly position out of deference to our adopted parent figure.
3. Attachment disorder: We make it impossible to develop our talents when we get into toxic relationships. Our lives become overly dramatic. We start throwing tantrums like irate kids. Everything is a crisis requiring frantic thinking and desperate action. We're attracted to people who trash our confidence, commitments or health. We grew fond of these types from earlier experiences with internalizing "tainted love". We learned from primary caregivers to think we're receiving love when we are getting abused, deprived or terrorized. It feels like home to get mistreated that way. We miss it and we want more of it even though we've supposedly grown up. We instinctively know where to get it and then get hooked by it without hesitation.
4. Persecution complexes: We can make our hidden talents one more thing to feel victimized by. When we've been shocked by persecution, we become vigilant about anything out to get us. We try to avoid feeling powerless again on the basis of profound self-pity. We only succeed at re-enacting an episode of getting persecuted in familiar ways. Our victim story goes into endless reruns while our talents remain in deep denial.
5. Inferiority complexes: We can unconsciously deprive ourselves of acting talented, resourceful and gifted. We may believe we are not worthy of admiration, respect or recognition. We assume we are inferior, incapable, and powerless to change anything. We live in a state of torment and anxiety that drowns out any inspiration to think better of ourselves. Our wishful thinking and escape fantasies avoid anything as realistic as cultivating our hidden talents.
6. Negative parent wounds: We're in no shape to shape up or grow up when we've been devastated by a negative father or mother. We experience having an insatiable need to change our mood in a hurry and to escape our perpetual misery with a quick fix. We feel guilty about who we are and apologetic about existing. We cannot justify our existence or stand our ground with any conviction. We fill this chronic, aching emptiness with any of a number of thrill-seeking addictions. All the while, we neglect our potential and dismiss our unique traits.
7. Hostage situations: When we're desperate for companionship and plagued by loneliness, cultivating hidden talents would ruin everything. We're making a show of neediness that hooks caring people. We're making a play for sympathy that baits others to feel sorry for us. We're taking hostages of others with our neediness and punishing them if they act independently or self-confidently. Developing our own talents would appear like we valued solitude, satisfied our needs with our accomplishments and had no use for sympathy. Our hostages would be set free and we would be left to our own devices.

My numerous run-ins with these forms of childishness have taught me that "cultivating hidden talents" is "too much too soon" for many adults. These patterns are amazingly robust and defiant of the ways my mentoring serves people with more resourcefulness. Rather than keep trying what usually works for me, I've learned that chronic childishness calls for me to provide some clean structure.

Commiseration with childishness fails horribly. Dirty structure comes across as controlling, manipulative and contemptuous. Breaking up any of the patterns succeeds when people are shown the respect implied by open frameworks where they choose how to take action. They can get something done and take pride in their accomplishments. They then can take responsibility for cleaning up their mistakes without getting shamed, blamed or castigated. In the process, they grow up and outgrow their chronic childishness. They become capable of eventually cultivating their hidden talents.

Under-developed talents

Under-developed countries are usually ruled by dictators. The domineering use of power by elite rulers eviscerates the economic and social progress in the country. The peasants remain weak while the big shots in the governmental palace persist in abusing their power. The country lacks paved roads, airports, power grids, fuel storage and water treatment facilities. The guerrilla insurgencies fail to overthrow the oppressive regime. The subsistence-level existence seems inescapable while so much is neglected, antagonistic and oppressed.

A similar dynamic plays out in the minds of all of us with under-developed talents. We fail to live up to our potential for reasons that appear inescapable. We lack the infrastructure to develop those talents. Our desires to change are over-ruled by an inner tyrant. We repeatedly experience being our own worst enemy and harshest critic. We see no way out of this misery even though it's self-imposed at some deeper level. Attempts to change, rebel or escape all fail. The satisfying development of our talents remains a wishful fantasy.

We get trapped in this because our brains are designed to internalize excessive caution at all cost. Early in our lives, we discover we are poor judges of danger. We rely on authority figures to look out for threats to our well being and forewarn us of trouble we might be getting into. Rather than continually needing to ask for their vigilant guidance, we internalize their speech patterns and lines of reasoning. We then have a voice in our heads that guards us against dangers, changes and unknowns. Its fear-based logic cannot handle complex tradeoffs, mind-boggling paradoxes, nuanced issues or gradients between extremes. It's voice berates us for any mistake, embarrassment or risky behavior. It's outlook remains vigilant to meet others' approval, avoid their rejection and maintain a low profile. This voice can go ballistic with fear when we consider doing anything as weird as cultivating a hidden talent.

We don't assess whether the authority, in whom we put so much trust, is really a paranoid, control-freak who misperceives genuine opportunities as imagined threats. We assume his/her evaluation of danger is extremely realistic and reliable. We then sacrifice the development of our talents because our survival is unquestionably in danger when it sounds the alarm. We "know" our control of a situation is "really being" challenged. We embody those instinctual priorities which frame our hidden talents as luxuries to cultivate only when we're basking in safety, abundance of opportunities and freedom from oppression. Otherwise, "desperate times call for desperate measures" which includes following the dictates of a tyrant in our minds.

Different models of therapy offer different names for this voice in our heads: toxic introject, a super-ego, internalized abuse, a negative father complex, unresolved power issues, a top dog, a gremlin, an inner enemy, or toxic shame. Whatever the name, it functions the same and serves the same purpose: keeping us out of danger. Developing hidden talents looks extremely dicey and deviant. The voice inhibits, sabotages or ridicules any of our inclinations, planning or initial attempts at the development of hidden talents.

With so much inner opposition, most tentative explorations of latent possibilities get defeated after a few attempts. Like under-developed countries, we don't develop the infrastructure that makes it possible and easy to develop our hidden talents. We don't read books/blogs/articles about our particular potentials. We don't cultivate friendships or other resources who encourage us with their own experiences and aspirations. We fail to make a conscious effort to deal with the inherent limitations of the voice's intentions. We don't get beyond trying to overthrow the inner tyrant like the imprisoned rebels who oppose an oppressive dictator.

To liberate our minds and unleash our hidden talents, we need to become better judges of danger. This calls for beating the inner tyrant at its game.

• How dangerous is it really to not meet with others' approval?
• How perilous would rejection turn out to be?
• How risky is it to deviate from what others are doing?
• How important is it to be confined by what others think?
• Which is more dangerous - not fitting in or not being true to one's own talents?
• What are the specific dangers in cultivating a particular hidden talent?

When we've formulated confident answers to questions like these, we can disregard the extreme voice -- while watching out for dangers all the same. We will create a context with some safety, abundance of opportunities and freedom from oppression. Our instinctual drive to survive will relax and allow us to development our hidden talents.

Talents hidden by conformity pressures

Most of us are in need of permission to be uniquely ourselves. We have been pressured to conform to other's expectations. We are indoctrinated with the obligation to "be normal", "fit in with everyone else", "not stand out like a sore thumb" or "be more like a particular sibling, parent or other relative". If we yield those these conformity pressures, our unique gifts, talents and traits will go unconscious. We'll deny they exist to avoid the pain of our unlived life and unrealized potential. We won't understand why we're unhappy, unfulfilled or continually resentful when we're trying to simmer down, fit in and act conventionally. We'll assume there is something wrong with us that justifies feeling guilty. We think we should apologize for being defective, deficient, or deviant. We've lost sight of our hidden talents.

Sometimes a phase of conformity is a good thing. During this time we develop trade skills, self confidence and a steady source of income. We seem reliable to others and attract a mate and friends into our lives who expect us to not change. If we go overboard at fitting in, we also saddle ourselves with a bundle of financial obligations on this same premise of how we are going to continually operate with mechanical consistency. We morph into a good machine like everyone else that values conformity. We are embarrassed by our spells of irrationality, emotionality and contrariness. We have no clue that we are experiencing bouts with our hidden talents coming alive.

Sometimes fitting in with the crowd turns out to be a bad thing. We "gain the world and lose our soul". We sacrifice our gifts and talents on the altar of materialism and conformity. We sellout for the sake of the almighty dollar, an obnoxious power trip or the appeasement of parental pressures. We are destined to contribute to the world in deviant ways. Our uniqueness is a source of inner torment until we show it considerable respect. We appear to sabotage great opportunities, self-destruct amidst impressive challenges and act out a fear of success. We are haunted by our destiny. We are paying a price for trying to fit in until we get on our own path and follow it with intense dedication.

There are many metaphors used by therapists, counselors and mentors for picturing this transition from conformity to fulfillment of a unique purpose, talents and contributions:

You appear to have been trapped in a dominant narrative imposed on your life. Yet you've had some sparkling moments that take exception to how you're supposed to be, act, think and feel. There's an opportunity in this to write a preferred narrative of how you see yourself acting, relating, thinking and feeling by you own choice.

You appear to have figured out how to be a good person in other people's eyes. You concocted a private religion that you've expected would get rewarded by fate -- so long as you didn't mess up. Now you're having a crisis of faith because your bad turn of luck has destroyed the meaning of your life and rewarded the wrong doers instead of you. While you've been humbled, shattered and ruined, you're the right size to receive your higher calling. You're in the right frame of mind to submit to your elusive, inner purpose. It's time to not know what to think so as to be given direction from within.

This person you've been proud of being is only a mask that you hide behind. You keep the world from knowing what you're really thinking, feeling and getting urges to do -- with this flimsy facade. Now that your pretentious claim on respectability has been exposed as a fake, the real you is free to come forth. The truth will set you free. The relationships that can handle your honesty will be the ones you treasure the most.

You've keeping your feelings from showing and occasionally flipping your lid. That's an indication of your having a lot to say that has not been admitted to yourself or revealed to others. The time for repression is over. The time for expression has come. You will find your own voice, unique curiosity, particular passions and soulful purpose -- as you write out, speak up or show the world who you are when you're in touch with your deepest feelings.

Whenever we make the switch from conformity to uniqueness, the timing of our transition is close to perfect. A long stretch of fitting in may work out perfectly with our ultimate calling. A brief bout with copping out may be essential to fully develop a complex gift for the world. We cannot be the judge of the timing in our lives. However, we can trust the process and immerse ourselves in the value of our present situations.

Seeing others clearly

Some people have a talent for giving constructive feedback. They see others clearly. They approach others with enough fascination to gain insights that read people below the obvious surface impressions. Their sense of others is complex and considerate of tradeoffs, conflicting ambitions and unconscious motives. This issue came up on Steve Roesler's blog last week in a post titled: Talent, Systems, Change, and Truthful Self-Perception. If you read through the comments, you'll get a comprehensive sense of this issue.

Performance reviews and promotion decisions are plagued by rater bias. One work around this is 360 degree feedback that gathers the perceptions from a circle of superiors, colleagues an underlings. Another solution relies on proprietary psychometric instruments like the Myers Briggs or DISC assessments. I've used the Myers Briggs scale on myself several times over 30 years. I'm very impressed with the Myers Briggs instrument because I get the same result every time (INFP). I was certified in the use of the DISC instrument years ago, but have not had equal success with it. I suspect it only assesses the idealized self and coping mechanisms we all show the world, rather than our deeper, inner nature. The feedback was not taken as constructive by most and did not appear to resonate with many of my clients' sense of authenticity (being real, being true to oneself, etc.)

As I explored the nature of family systems and ecosystems, I realized that "seeing others clearly" and "giving accurate feedback" are likely to be emergent properties of systems. Individuals may demonstrate a talent for giving feedback in the context that supports that conduct. Likewise the feedback they give others will "miss the mark" in situations that are rife with hostilities, power struggles, abuse or fear. The appearance of the talent depends on the situation. Corrupted, biased and destructive feedback are all very common in family, school or workplace dramas predicated on self contempt. The talent for giving accurate feedback is usually scarce and sorely needed because it is not an emergent property of the toxic system in use.

It's human nature to go to extremes when we're afraid. We become extremely productive when we're afraid of being seen as lazy. We get fanatic about getting attention when we're devastated by indifference and neglect. We go crazy about pleasing others when we scared of being rejected, ostracized or dismissed. These over-reactions skew our perceptions of other people. We idealize one extreme and demonize the other. We give feedback on the basis of there being one right answer, a normative standard to adhere to, and an ideal to live up to. We cannot handle deviation, variation and experimentation.

When we have gone to any extreme, the opposite becomes our shadow. We have a dark side that we don't admit to. We pretend it doesn't exist in us, but take offense when we see it in others. Rather than successfully getting it to disappear, we become haunted by our missing half. Our shadow appears in our dreams, shows up as unwanted characters in our lives or in outbursts we regret after we feel like ourselves again. Because we are keeping this opposite extreme in denial, it functions demonically. The only choice of our dark side is to seek the destruction of our false pride, delusional conceit, and arrogant idea of how good we really are. We are our own worst enemy when we fail to accept our own dark side.

The feedback we give while in this state of mind is far from clear. We're keeping a lid on stormy emotions and compensating for our cloudy misperceptions. We cannot handle the truth about ourselves, so we don't see the truth in others. We are lacking insights and intuitions about others because our mind is in turmoil. We think we are giving others feedback when we are actually projecting our own insecurities or superiority on to them. We are effectively blaming them for making us feel unhappy and seeing our own large misgivings in their small shortcomings. We fall into collusion and conflicts with like-minded people. We agree who's at fault, who to make into the enemy and who to guard against. The social system we keep perpetuated and replicated cannot handle seeing others clearly. They need to label, stereotype and diminish others overrides the value of accurate appraisals.

Systems that support constructive feedback are based on mutual respect. Differences between people are valued and balance is found between personally favored extremes. Contributions are non-conformist and insights about others are numerous. Individuals are self aware and accepting of their own dark sides. Unresolved issues get processed as they arise. Extremes presented as desperately necessary get contained by the whole range of valuable options. Everyone has received lots of feedback that seems congruent with how they know themselves to be. There's a shared expectation generated from these experiences that feedback from others will be accurate and useful. Seeing others clearly emerges from the healthy social system in play.

A hidden talent for creativity?

Lots of people characterize themselves as lacking creativity and then feel envious of those who display more talent. Plenty of teachers wish their students demonstrated more creativity. Countless managers want their charges to solve problems with more ingenuity. Most taxpayers wish their government services, legislators and military would think outside the box of worn-out premises. oodles of customers wish their salespeople would apply more creativity providing service and satisfaction. In short, there appears to be a real problem with a talent for creativity getting hidden, repressed or damaged.

It's very tempting to approach this issue as a dichotomy: creativity is either hidden or apparent, repressed or expressed. Either/or diagnoses like these feed the problem and lack creativity in themselves. We are seeing a lack of creativity when we are lacking creativity in our approach to a hidden talent. We get to be right about having a problem to solve while missing out how ways the problem disappears in the wink of an eye. This situation calls for more creativity.

What-if creativity appears with perfect timing? Creativity is inherently destructive to some aspect of the status quo and disruptive to complacency. Assumptions get up-ended and beliefs get contradicted. There's a time for this destruction to occur and a time for stability and order. What-if creativity appears when the time is right for dismantling something, and disappears when it's time for commitments and persistence? Then hidden talents are a sign of the times. The absence of creativity reveals the presence of consistency. A lack of creativity is a lack of mayhem, chaos and disorder. There's no problem, only well-timed solutions and a continual balance between both possibilities.

What-if creativity only appears where it belongs? Creativity is essential to survive and thrive is changing situations. Genetic mutations are creative adaptations to changing habitats. Business innovations evolve with transforming markets. People reinvent themselves when faced with unforeseen opportunities. Creativity appears where it's called for by a discontinuity in more-of-the-same, business-as-usual, tried-and-true circumstances. What-if creativity also disappears in circumstances where it does not belong? When organisms are going extinct, they persist with a flawed survival strategy. When businesses are falling by the wayside, they follow their fears that try harder at what used to succeed. When individuals feel victimized by layoffs or industry-wide job-loss, they feed their misery with mood-altering addictions. There's no problem with creativity, only problem situations where it does not belong.

What-if creativity only comes between a pair of opposites? Creativity comes about when someone wants to give and another wants to receive. Innovations come to mind when we know what needs to be done but not how to do it. Creativity enters a situation where there is a space between opposing stances for reconciliation, forgiveness and win/win solutions. New ideas appear in collaboration where it's "good for us", "what we need to succeed" or "in our best interests". What-if creativity cannot appear when we work in isolation or act selfishly? Creativity cannot come about when aiming to control, fix or diminish other people. Innovations elude the enterprise that has no sense of community, context and connections to countless constituencies. There's no problem with hidden talents, only problems with "holding the tension of opposites".

What-if creativity is always unstoppable? We are always creating our experiences with our selective perceptions and framing them with our subjectivity. We are continually attracting the people and situations that provoke us to think, feel and do things of value. We cannot stop creating something different from the last time we saw this, showed up here or took on this challenge. What-if we creativity only appears stoppable when we're dreaming that physical life is real and life-in-spirit is imaginary? When we're awake to what's real, we see creativity occurring everywhere all-the-time. When we're delusional, distracted or dreaming, we misread the evidence and mistake what appears to be true. There's no problem with creativity, only problems with realizing what's really happening in dimensions that our five senses cannot detect.

If anything of these what-if possibilities fit the facts of your situation, then framing the problem as "a hidden talent for creativity" is a game of pretending. There's no real need to make-believe that creative abilities are hidden when its timing is perfect, it appears where it belongs, it emerges between opposites and stops for no one.

A talent for relating

Everyone I meet shows signs of some talent for relating to others. For many, their talent is hidden for good reasons. Yet, in the presence of some authentic connection to them, their ability to relate in their own way comes into play. When I'm using my own talent for relating, it's apparent to the others and myself that they have a hidden talent. They discover they have what it takes to relate in a way that's enjoyable, fulfilling and even natural for them.

I've realized that our talents for relating are designed to be unique. We have our own ways of showing how much we care and what we naturally connect to in others. We feel capable of understanding other people in uncommon ways . We get inspired to serve, support and nurture relationships on different bases. We respect and admire others with our own passions, priorities and values. We see others within our own frames of reference that gives us different ways to respond and relate to their concerns. When we actualize our own talents for relating, we are one of a kind and inherently kind to others.

Many of us lose sight of our unique talent for relating. We are not really getting related to and forego our ability to initiate authentic relating. We develop defenses and pretenses to manage our misery and keep interactions superficial. We realize a typical situation calls for getting some control of others and putting some distance into the pseudo-relationship. It seems obvious that acting understanding, caring and respectful will backfire. The entanglement appears to be on the brink of losing control and compromising our own values. We cope with getting blamed, bribed and told what's right for us by people we feel wronged by. We assume our hidden talent for relating is useless while we're getting consistently manipulated, misled and betrayed.

When we've been damaged by pseudo-relating, we're bound to have trust issues. We will not make commitments easily or let our guard down anytime soon. We're living in fear of more mistreatment of our needs, more misunderstanding of what we said and more misconstruing of our intentions. We're prepared for repeats of what we don't want to happen. We soon attract more proof of how right we are about the dangers.

When we utilize our unique talent for relating, others feel understood by us on some level or in some way. They feel safe around us and respected by us. They experience permission from us to be themselves and trust their feelings. Their tolerance for ambiguity increases. They allow the relationship to become more mysterious as they "expect the unexpected" to occur. They welcome us into some private dimensions of their lives because of the feeling they get from our ways of seeing them. We see beyond the mask they show the world and value the resulting depth in our relationship with them.

I've learned, from my experience with mentoring, how bringing out others' talents for relating is a slow process. Most people are disoriented by getting understood and respected. They are accustomed to being taken hostage by other's neediness and dominated by others control needs. They are familiar with commiseration and manipulation, not validation and fascination. It takes time for people to get their bearings in a context where their own talent for relating will emerge. They need to experiment with how they respond to getting someone "in their corner watching their back". They eventually find within themselves their unique talent for relating.

Introduction to hidden talents

This is the first in a new series of posts on our hidden talents. Psychologists have many ways to explain how our talents get hidden and why it's so difficult to bring them into fruition. I use these explanations every day in the mentoring I'm doing. I routinely see people are more resourceful than they realize they are. It's become a frequent challenge of mine to bring out the best in others whenever I get a sense of where they are coming from.

For the past week, Steve Roesler has been exploring the issues of systemic talent development on his blog: All Things Workplace. There are many organizational and leadership issues involved that Steve's talent for framing issues has explored superbly. Few employers realize the benefits from cultivating their employees' under-developed traits. By following the organizational issues in Steve's series of posts and the psychological issues here, you'll gain a full appreciation of the difficulties and rewards of developing others' hidden talents.

For starters, I'll explore many of the metaphors for relating to hidden talents. Each of these redefines the problem and opportunities to explore. Each says any approach to hidden talents is more art than science.

• Finding hidden talents: It takes a keen eye to spot a hidden talent. Like a detective sniffing about for clues, the awareness of latent potentials involves a focused attention on subtle signs that most overlook. I expect to find gifts that people don't know they have or have dismissed as insignificant. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy where I find what I'm looking for. By regarding someone as "more than meets my eye", some of what's hidden in them becomes revealed to me. I see the trait when I believe it can be seen by me.
• Unleashing hidden talents: Lots of potential in people appears to be repressed by a layer of defensive rationalizations. People are full of excuses why they cannot consider the possibility of their latent abilities. They are convinced there's no way to explore new potentials or change their ideas about who they are. Their comfort zone is encased like a fortress with thick walls. Their hidden talents are held captive in a dungeon awaiting liberation. They cannot free their themselves from their internalized oppression or find the keys to the prison cell of preconceptions.
• Refining hidden talents: Under-develop traits usually come out at first as raw urges. They are expressed awkwardly and understood primitively. There is a need to break them down into component issues, to rethink their formulations and to refine their expression. Obnoxious over-simplifications go through arduous complications to emerge as refined talents. The process is like taming wild animals, cooking a savory stew or concocting a potion. There's a unpredictable search to find the right balance, combination and emphasis in the process of refinement.
• Rooting hidden talents: Lots of latent abilities remain like seeds stored in the dark. They will not sprout into anything useful or fulfilling without a gardener's careful attention. There's an initial process of delving deeper into that darkness. The seeds need to send down roots into negative emotions, painful past episodes and chronic fears. By growing away from one's sunny disposition and favorable "impression management", the hidden talent acquires a new basis to grow tall. Self confidence gets established on solid ground rather than on the shifting sands of people-pleasing rackets and avoidance of pain.
• Nurturing hidden talents: Latent potentials thrive amidst respect and validation. They grow in a context where mistakes are useful and essential to uncover false assumptions. The development of hidden talents become exploratory, adventurous, and courageous in supportive conditions. Having someone in their corner who's got their back -- brings out the risk-taking that's essential for them to rely more and more on their new abilities.
• Realizing hidden talents: Under-developed traits are partially realized when someone admits they at least have the potential. The ability becomes further advanced by experimenting with the possibility. There are questions to resolve to one's personal satisfaction: "Do I really have what it takes?", "Is there a desire to be like this as well as the capability to do it?", and "Am I finding the determination in me to pursue this completely?". When talents have become fully realized, they seem to be inherent in one's nature or unconscious competence that can be done without thinking.

Note that each of these approaches are conveyed with metaphors. They make connections that are not literal or objective. They do not define techniques or methods. They invite a kind of playfulness that proves to be very effective in being hidden talents into full fruition (another metaphor!). The psychological explanations we will explore in this series of posts are ways to redefine the problems and realize creative solutions.