What does potential mean as a core value?
Potential as a core value means wanting to make full use of the abilities you and other people have, and feeling uneasy when real talent is left unused.
There’s a particular ache in suspecting you could do more than you’re doing. When potential is a core value, wasted ability can feel almost worse than lack of it, whether it’s your own or someone else’s. You notice untapped talent in a quiet team member, a teenager or yourself, and you want to see it used. Being told you were good but could have been great probably stings far more than plain failure.
What does potential look like in practice?
- You push for the stretch role even when you’re comfortable where you are.
- You give the junior colleague with more ability than their job needs a harder challenge to solve.
- You encourage your child to keep going with the instrument just when they’re about to get good.
- You feel a pang when someone at a leaving do mentions the career they never tried.
- You set goals slightly beyond what you think is realistic.
When is potential overplayed?
Living up to your potential can become a debt you never finish paying. Whatever you achieve, the gap between what you did and what you could have done stays open, and it’s easy to project that onto others, nudging people towards a version of themselves they never wanted. Kept in proportion, potential is an invitation, and choosing not to pursue something can be a wise use of who you are. You could try picking one area where good is good enough, and leaving it there.
Often confused with
Potential vs Growth
Growth is open ended change. Potential carries a sense of something already there, waiting to be used, and a frustration when it isn’t.
Potential vs Ambition
Ambition is wanting to reach high goals. Potential is about fulfilling what you’re capable of, which may be quieter or different from what the world rewards.
Potential vs Achievement
Achievement is getting results. Potential asks whether those results match what you could really have done.
Questions to sit with
- Where do you suspect you’re coasting, and what would it take to find out?
- Whose potential are you pushing that they might not want pushed?
- What ability have you decided not to pursue, and are you at peace with that choice?
More values in Growth
Becoming more than you were.
About the author
Matt Rutherford is a Career and Leadership Coach. The Values Finder is the same exercise he uses with his coaching clients. He also writes Stuff that MattRs, a weekly newsletter with practical ideas to help you think clearer and work better.
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