Academic excellence is overrated and maybe even a liability

I don’t tell my kids go get lots of Cs, my dear. I do like when they get As, and I might scold them just a little for getting an occasional poor grade.

But I never put pressure on them, and my scolding is as soft as it gets. Because, in my opinion, excessively chasing academic excellence is not a guaranteed path to success or leadership. And how do you even define success in life?

Yeah, this is coming from someone who graduated from Cambridge and Harvard.

You’d think I’d be more demanding.

No.

My path to these fine institutions wasn’t linear. At my Soviet school, I was mediocre. I was doing Okay — getting a mix of As and Bs (5s and 4s in the Soviet system). Not a straight As guy, but not many Cs either. What I remember most is how strict my mom was with my studies, especially when I was very young — in my pre-teen years. She made me read a lot and always stood over me when I was doing my homework. She’d smack me frequently if I was slow. Not sure she’d admit to it now, but I remember those episodes well. I have a great relationship with my Mom but I don’t appreciate these memories more than three decades later.

At fourteen, I left Russia. I first spent a year in Oklahoma and then four years at a boarding school in…