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Climbing the Ladder: Conscientiousness and the Path to Success

In our fast-paced digital age, it can feel like there’s no reliable recipe for success. Some advise pursuing STEM degrees and developing coding proficiency; others emphasize the importance of studying the humanities in a post-human world. Still others recommend that young adults eschew higher education altogether and train for skills-based trades instead. For today’s high school graduates, the stakes of these choices feel high, and the path to financial success seems uncertain.

In Financial Times, John Burn-Murdoch highlights a less-emphasized key to success: personality. Studies consistently show that personality traits such as conscientiousness and agreeableness are strongly linked with professional and relational success than even intelligence or socio-economic background.

Unfortunately, conscientiousness is in decline in America, and especially in America’s young adults. Burn-Murdoch reports that young Americans today are “increasingly easily distracted and careless, less tenacious and less likely to make and deliver on commitments.” They are also more anxious and less outgoing than previous generations. These personality changes are unsurprising in a generation raised during the era of social media and coming of age during COVID restrictions.

While these trends may not bode well for society at large, they present an opportunity for young people seeking to get ahead. Read the rest of Burn-Murdoch’s article via a gift link here. 
 

Weekly Poll

Results: August 7th, 2025

With divorce rates down nearly 40% since the early 1980s, do you think marriage is experiencing a cultural comeback?

[A] Yes—48.9%
[B] No—14.9%
[C] Not Sure—36.2%

What personality trait do you think matters most for long-term success?
​​​​
[A] Conscientiousness
[B] Emotional Stability
[C] Agreeableness
[D] Extroversion
​​​​

CATEGORY: INTERNATIONAL (57 MIN)

Canada in Crisis: The Aftermath of Enshrining the Right to Die

In 2016, Canada legalized euthanasia, formally known as Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). At first, the practice was only available to terminally ill patients already near death. But bioethicists warned that, once legalized, the practice of euthanasia can be difficult to control. Sure enough, within five years, Canada’s parliament expanded euthanasia to adults whose deaths were reasonably foreseeable. In two more years, MAID is scheduled to become available to adults suffering solely from mental illness.

Writing in The Atlantic, Elaina Plott Calabro offers a glimpse into the world’s fastest-growing euthanasia regime. At the center, she suggests, lies the concept of patient autonomy. When cloaked in the language of “equality, access, and compassion,” the demands for continued expansion of the so-called right to die have been difficult for the Canadian government to resist. “This is the story of an ideology in motion,” Calabro writes, “of what happens when a nation enshrines a right before reckoning with the totality of its logic.”

Demand for euthanasia in Canada has far outpaced government predictions, with MAID now accounting for nearly 5% of deaths nationwide. Canada’s experience should serve as a warning to other nations tempted to open the door to this practice. Read the rest of Calabro’s article here to learn more.