Why Late Bloomers Are Undervalued | Rich Karlgaard | TEDxFargo

Pressure for early bloomer achievement has caused terrible damage to people, families and society. It's time to acknowledge the power of late blooming. This talk emphasizes the necessity of a late bloomer revolution. Rich Karlgaard is the publisher and futurist of Forbes Media. His writing is known for its keen assessment of technology, economic, business and leadership issues.

His next book is titled Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement. It will be published in March 2019.

Karlgaard is an investor and participant in Silicon Valley. He started three organizations and is a Northern California regional winner of E&Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

[silentlessons]

late bloomer myself. went to university at 35 years for a degree in computer science. i wont forget one man who was supposed to be a friend telling me that programming is only for indians who do it when they r young. and that it was too late for me. I ignored him and went ahead. At university i was the oldest dude in my class competing with kids who just left high school. I worked hard and did well and got a first class degree. After university I went on to rack insane amounts of money from software dev projects. Now am 41 and a web consultant for a big corporation in london. I am also in the midst of opening a company in africa and life is good. dont despair

[Herberberber]

I am one of these "late bloomers" that Rich is talking about. I had a 2.1 GPA in HS. Was constantly told that college wasn't for me. I came back to school at 28, earned a 4.0 in community college, got into a Top 10 finance program, and will be starting work as an investment banking analyst at a major bulge bracket bank this summer. ITS NEVER TOO LATE.

[heathernimal]

Late bloomer here. 52 years old and going back to school at a community College. It has taken me years in the School of Hard Knocks to finally mentally get myself to this moment.

[samann]

Gives me hope as a late bloomer. I came to the bay area 25 yrs ago, became homeless, struggled hard, survived, now thriving well & have dreams to make it bigger.

[juanmanuel]

I'm a late bloomer in life in general, but my most recent example is about cooking. Before the pandemic, despite being over thirty years old, and living alone for over a decade, my cooking skills were quite poor. Suddenly, i don't know how to explain it, but i had like a "click" in my mind, and recipes that usually ended in disaster started to get better and better, and know i find myself cooking things i never dreamed off. My friends and family completely freak out because they cannot understand how you can be so "bad" at something for a long time and suddenly become good (or even very good), but for me its normal because it happened in many aspects of my life.

[timwilson]

I’m 61 and am about to graduate from university for the first time, after which I’ve been made a conditional offer to study a masters.

[HanaHana-rdnr]

I am 39 and keep going to my own success at my timing. Still I am going through a lot of struggles but I am looking forward to my new stage of abundant life as a late bloomer. I wish every late bloomer loves his or her utmostly right pace and enjoys their journey during ups and downs. 😊😊😊

[nevercanyoucant]

To punish people for their entire lives because of their performance or decisions made when they were children is completely farcical, absurd, and tragic. I remember the amount of stress on me at that age to choose some hallway to die in, so hopeless, and on top of that trying to get through school as my family fell apart due to divorce. Obviously much clearer now, but still have trouble sometimes when I explore the What Ifs, because the way all this is setup is you pick your specialization ASAP, start the pressure on kids when they're 5 years old, what do you wanna be what do you wanna be // what college do you want to go to .... Not "do you want to go to college?" + "you realize we aren't rich so this will mean debt for you, and debt means limited choices" etc... if we can somehow fight against this tyrannical treatment of our youth, you got bad grades in high school so you belong in jail kinda situation ... and let people actually have time and support to experiment and learn and really just DEVELOP THEMSELVES.... we truly would be a great nation Thanks for your message.

[tonyc.]

I'm a late bloomer myself, inside and out. I was rarely suitable for sports due to not being tall and/or athletic enough. I didn't get into top colleges because I didn't excel in honors courses like my overachieving peers did. I bounced between different part-time jobs because I didn't pick any particular career path in my early 20's. I'm sometimes surprised that I'm still living despite coming up short many times in life, yet I have to grow up sometime.

To all late bloomers and underdogs, stay alive and alert. Opportunities will come. Also, train and work out on occasion to make up for lost time that wasn't spent on athletics.

[royal]

I'm 26 years old and a late bloomer. Right now, I'm having a purpose crisis in life. I'm so pressured because I dont know what to do with my life. I graduate 2 college courses and yet, it doesnt even helped me in knowing what I want to do in life and having social anxiety added to that crisis is really destroying my hope for myself. I'm so tired!!!!

[quackkuryu]

I am only 19 and I feel left behind by people my age. I just got my driver's license and have never had a job yet. I am going to community college Undecided but still I but feel behind. Just bought your book and I will read it Soon, Thanks Rich

[vicproulx]

I returned to painting at 67 years of age. It took me two years to develop a style, and suddenly I was making what I feel to be real art. I am 73 now. I get into juried shows, but it seems that galleries will have nothing to do with me because of my age.

[radheksabintangakbar]

That explains why i got my first "serious" job as a fulltime recruiter at 30. I used to work randomly as a freelancer, got fired as a teacher in 2021, kept applying for jobs with no prospect. But i have this one friend whom kept recommending me to numerous companies, even giving me pep talks about interviews and stuff.

[krishnaprasannavankayala]

I'm a late bloomer but I feel that something better is going to come for me in future. This is how I become optimistic. Though the societal pressure comes but I didn't bother the words. I have been learning lot of things somehow better. I'm 30 now, doing a very small job while my friends have qualified CPA and I'm yet to. I have gained lot of philosophical thing through the failures. Now I'm trying to come out of comfort zone, yes it is required to become successful in life.😊
So far I didn't get any job that I have expected, everywhere failures are appearing but I want to pursue Law degree at least to make money on my own and complete CPA degree. I have no Godfather but dealing that uncertainty is what life says. Be confident, be resilient and do your karma. One fine day you will fly out with successful colours.

[Haroombe]

I wholeheartedly agree with what Rich talked about. But I think we should also not use "being a late bloomer" as an excuse to procrastinate or be lazy. Everyone should face their fears head on to their capacity.

[thomashaug]

There are so many reasons why talent is'nt discovered early - thanks for spelling it out

[BNK]

Late Bloomers was one of the most inspiring books that I read on the past few years.

[vernelledouglas]

Kicked out due to lack of food! Makes me really grateful for all my parents did and still do for my sister and I. Thanks Ellis and Iris Douglas!!!!

[lizziefarmsmart]

There is light at the end of the tunnel for late bloomers

[sql]

As a late bloomer, as much as I want to believe Rich's anecdotal stories, I trust the rule of exponential growth more. Stats does prove that several accumulative steps ahead gives the person a very good start. I see all the comment from 'late bloomer' who are succesful now, it's more like an outlier observation than a trend.