Everyone’s Special
Which also means…
Pixar’s The Incredibles, released in 2004, is one of our favorite family movies. Forced into hiding, the Parr family of superheroes tries to keep their powers under wraps and live a normal suburban life (until they have to save the world).
The ten-year-old son, “Dash”, has the power of superspeed. He’s not allowed to use it during sports, which he argues is unfair. His mom, Helen (a.k.a. Elastigirl), is just trying to get him to fit in. From the movie:
Dash: “But Dad always said our powers were nothing to be ashamed of—our powers made us special.”
Helen (Elastigirl): “Everyone’s special, Dash.”
Dash: “Which is another way of saying no one is.”
Speaking of special people, last year, the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences released a report showing a sharp rise in A grades: 24% in 2005, 40.3% in 2015, and 60.2% by spring 2025. Excluding non-letter grades makes the picture even starker. Nearly two-thirds of all grades are now A’s. Since the 2016-2017 academic year, the median Harvard College GPA has been an A.
You’d think all those students walking around with A’s would be pretty happy. Turns out, it’s the opposite. From Harvard Magazine:
“The psychology driving this grade-frenzied atmosphere stems from the way A’s flooding the marketplace changes their value as a currency, rendering them both essential and trash at the same time. When you feel that everybody’s got an A, then you must get one, too – every time – or you have failed to keep up with the mainstream. Yet all the A’s in the world will do zilch to get you ahead.”
The report itself stated that the College’s evaluation system is “failing to perform the key functions of grading and is undermining our academic mission… nearly all faculty expressed serious concern. They perceive there to be a misalignment between the grades awarded and the quality of student work.”
This reminded us of a recent conversation with a friend in higher education who expressed sympathy for truly gifted, hard-working students. Why? Because everyone gets an A. Give an Ivy League student a B and you invite appeals, complaints, and poor teacher ratings. The result: an exceptional paper gets the same grade as a good one. The truly gifted can’t stand out. If you can’t stand out, what’s the point of trying?
Of course, this phenomenon isn’t limited to Harvard. It is pervasive across higher education, often starting in elementary school. There is a growing hesitancy to provide honest feedback. Everyone gets A’s, equal playing time, and participation trophies. We understand why. It feels good in the moment. But there is no progress without struggle. Feedback is a gift, even when it’s hard to hear.
So, how does this relate to small business? For us, it comes down to building a culture around two, sometimes divergent values: Keep Score and Chase Better.
To Keep Score, we believe in the power of competition and acknowledge that the scoreboard doesn’t lie. But we also recognize that results are snapshots and not final judgments. We don’t assign our self-worth, good or bad, to a single period of time. We are never as good, or as bad, as our most recent numbers.
Second, to Chase Better, we believe unequivocally in our own potential. We maintain the discipline to do the little things necessary to achieve it. We cultivate the grit required to stay the course when things don’t go our way. We maintain a sense of urgency. We choose to chase better because we want to run, not walk, toward success. And when we get the proverbial “F,” we keep going. Always.
Syndrome, the villain in The Incredibles, wants to make everyone super. By giving everyone extraordinary abilities, he eliminates the very idea of exceptionalism. His logic is simple: when everyone’s super, no one will be. That’s exactly what’s happening in education and increasingly, in the workplace. At Chenmark, we try to resist that pull. We Keep Score. We Chase Better. We believe people should have the opportunity to stand out and a mechanism to know if they are falling behind. Because if everything is incredible, nothing is.
Note: Earlier this year, the Harvard Subcommittee on Grading of the Undergraduate Education Policy Committee recommended two changes. First, a 20 percent cap on A grades in each class (with four additional A’s permitted for flexibility in small seminars). Second, calculating honors using average percentile rank rather than GPA. The changes require a full faculty vote in May. According to The Crimson, nearly 85% of students oppose the proposed changes.
Have a great week,
Your Chenmark Team
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