I began my career as a researcher at the National Institutes of Health. After a year, an idea began waking me at night. What more could we learn if we started studying healthy, successful people as well as ill and dysfunctional ones? Are they using skills the rest of us are missing or misusing? Finally, after numerous restless nights, I stood up and presented my idea at one of our prestigious weekly conferences. But, instead of becoming excited, my colleagues all laughed!
