When my daughters brought me their report cards at the end of the year I made a point of not getting too obsessed about their marks. I obviously encourage them to do the best they can, get good marks, apply themselves, and try, try, try. But if they don’t get top grades, I don’t fuss all that much either. This may sound like heresy to most educationalists and parents, but the reality is that there is a poor correlation between good grades at school and success out in the real world. In fact, the ability to get an A on a report card may just demonstrate that: the ability to get an A on a report card. It may not be an indicator of success in future business or leadership. Jim Schleckser, who is boss of the business magazine Inc’s CEO Project, says there is a dirty little secret out there: “A students don’t grow up to lead companies”. He follows it up with this strong statement: “They rarely go on to lead anything”. He makes a convincing argument on the Inc.com website, saying that B s...

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