I've been thinking about Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and the concept of "capitalization rate" — what percentage of natural ability actually gets developed and used. Gladwell focused on poverty, geography, and timing. But there's another massive filter he only brushed against: cognitive conformity.
We've built institutions around a narrow band of neurotypical processing, then act surprised when they produce mediocre results. We focus on the outliers and try to reverse-engineer their success. It's compelling to believe opportunity follows a "success recipe”.
Meanwhile, we're missing a cornerstone factor that flips the narrative entirely: roughly 20% of the population represents unseen talent that never qualifies for the opportunity.
When 20% consistently struggles in your system, the system is sending a message.
Yet our response is predictable: we medicalize it. CBT for workplace anxiety. Medication for focus. Social skills training to "fit in."
We've made it cheaper to pathologize 20% of humans than to redesign 100% of our institutions.