2/3/20 @9:30am pst - LAURA HUANG, Harvard Business School Professor shares how to find our personal “edge” by turning adversity into advantage

In EDGE: Turning Adversity into Advantage, Harvard Business School Professor Laura Huang shares the practical implications of her revolutionary research on advantage and disadvantage, showing us how we can all improve our chances of achieving our dreams. Arguing that personal success depends on more than our ideas and credentials, or even hard work and effort, Huang writes, “To get ahead, you need an edge—and if you don’t have one, you can make one.”

EDGE illuminates how success in all arenas of life—whether it’s landing a job, getting a raise, closing a deal, or acing a presentation—hinges not only on working hard and amplifying our strengths, but on shaping how others see our perceived flaws. Huang begins with the recognition that the world isn’t a level playing field. Some people have inherent advantages; others have to create advantages for themselves. Stereotyping, bias, and superficial perceptions, fairly or not, play a big role in how we’re seen by others and how far we can go, and we all have biases—about race, gender, age, religion, ability, sexual orientation, and more—that work for us or against us. The good news, Huang argues, is that we can turn adversity into advantage by harnessing the very stereotypes and qualities that seem like shortcomings and reframing them as assets that work in our favor. We can each find and create our own unique “edge.”