We have long thought about potential as being a set of individual traits: your creativity, your skills your intelligence. But thanks to exciting new research combining neuroscience and psychology with Big Data, we now know that our potential is not limited by what we alone can achieve. Instead, it is determined by how we complement, contribute to, and benefit from the abilities and achievements of people around us.

When we - as individuals, leaders, and parents - chase only individual achievement, we leave vast sources of potential untapped. But once we put "others" back into the equation, and work to make others better, we ignite a Virtuous Cycle of cascading successes that amplify our own.

The dramatic shifts in how we approach work today demand an equally dramatic shift in our approach to success. Here, Achor offers a new path. Drawing on cutting-edge original research, as well as his work with nearly half of the Fortune 100 and with places like NASA, the NFL and the NBA, he walks us through five actionable steps towards achieving our Big Potential to thrive in the modern world.