Ambition Comes From INCENTIVE

I spoke to a high school faculty member who works with at-risk students in lower socio-economic conditions. These students have been booted from a traditional public high school, and her school is their last chance to graduate as a teen. What moved me in our conversation was her passion to teach them and offer wisdom that will help them later as an adult. But, alas, she confessed, her students simply had no ambition to learn at all. There was no fire inside.

But if you think the problem is poverty, however, think again. Kids in middle- to upper-class homes share the same problem. A new survey has revealed the top fears of the world’s wealthiest people, and one of the most common worries is that their children will lack the ambition and drive to do well. According to the study by law firm Withers Worldwide, fears over children’s ambition come above worries about investments failing, inability to provide for the family, and even divorce. In short, both the rich and the poor are anxious over the same thing: our children’s ambition.