You’ve probably never heard of Esther Wojcicki. She is a high school teacher in Palo Alto, CA who has a reputation for making a huge difference to students throughout her career. She is known as “Woj”.
But, she and her husband Stan also raised three very accomplished daughters: Susan (CEO of YouTube), Janet, a Fulbright-winning anthropologist, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and researcher, and Anne(co-founder of 23andMe). YouTube is owned by Google. 23andMe is a ground-breaking genetics company making great headway into looking at individual’s DNA and helping with medical breakthroughs.
Woj gets asked frequently for advice on raising accomplished children. She decided to write a book: How to Raise Successful People.
She identifies five strategies. She uses the acronym TRICK to identify and remember them.
Trust
Respect
Independence
Collaboration
Kindness
Those five characteristics resonate with me. You have seen them in our notes through the years.
People who know how to cultivate trust are honest reliable and competent. You can count on them. People who go along with teammates and partners who are trustworthy can go further and risk more.
Respect is a winsome characteristic. To respect others as a habit is to level the playing field.
To teach independence is to foster the idea that you have resources and can use them. To be independent means one looks at the world and decides what they can do to make things happen.
Collaboration is to appreciate the power of working with others. It recognizes that all of us are smarter than one of us.
Kindness is the golden rule. Treat others how you would like to be treated.
If your kids move on into life trying to master TRICK, you can feel like they are well equipped for success.
If our teams are masters of TRICK, we will be too.
