During the August Innovation Ambassador Virtual Meeting the Ambassador’s selected Talent is Overrated:
What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else, by Geoff Colvin for our second quarterly book review. In this September Ambassador update we review chapters one, two and three.

Over the years, it seems the perception of an individual’s talent or lack thereof, has been considered an indicator of future success. This book works to shift our understanding of talent and what, if any, bearing it has on an individual’s ability to achieve excellence. The premise of the book involves moving beyond previously held beliefs regarding talent.

With budgets shrinking and resources reduced, it is even more important to understand what drives individual achievement and how this impacts organizational development. As John Maynard Keynes noted, “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas, as escaping from old ones.”

This book begins the journey of “escaping” to an alternative understanding of talent and the role it does or does not play in individual achievement. If individuals are not limited by a lack of talent, what are they limited by? The sequence of chapters provides the reader the opportunity to ponder the question, while shedding new light on previously held notions regarding high level performance.

The first three chapters set the stage for the remainder of the book by examining in solid detail what  studies have shown doesn’t lead to great performance.

The “Experience Trap”
More experience equals high level performance, right? Not necessarily. In fact, research confirms that merely putting in the years isn’t much help to someone who wants to be a great performer.

Results from studies conducted at the INSEAD business school in France and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School show that “managers with experience did not produce high caliber outcomes.”(p.3)

In at least a few professions, people actually get worse with experience. (p.4). To quote novelist John C. Gardner, “It is learning to use the mind rather than merely fi lling up the mind.”

The author’s concept of deliberate practice seems to be the diff erence. Deliberate practice creates the opportunity to understand and apply principles of great performance. By definition, it is hard and “not inherently enjoyable” (p.8), requiring energy and concentration.

As the author points out, “The new understanding of great performance is especially powerful because it seems widely generalizable”. (p.8)

The focus for us, of course, is bringing this new understanding to local government organizations in a meaningful way. Human ability has always been an important resource in the public sector, as the
expectation has always been to do more with less.

Like Google and Microsoft (p.12), local government organizations are built on human capital.

Therefore, it is incredibly important to ensure employees are as highly developed as possible. A better understanding of what drives high level performance will help us make this a reality.

Nature vs. Nurture
Researchers felt certain that they could isolate talent as an indicator of high level musical performance. What they found was that the diff erentiating factor between musically accomplished students and others was the amount of practice. The students who practiced more each day reached grade levels at earlier ages than those who didn’t (elite students-2 hours, non-elite-15 minutes).(p.19)

Perceptions of talent can be used to guide individual performance positively or negatively. In the negative sense, if it is believed that people without a particular talent will never be competitive with those who posses this talent, they will likely be encouraged not to pursue an endeavor. The belief that talent is innate and can’t be acquired otherwise is equally limiting. Given the perceived relevance of talent as an indicator of success, it is interesting to note that the existence of talent does not appear to be supported by the evidence, as discussed in Chapter 2. What is even more interesting, is the possibility that if talent does exist, it may be irrelevant.(p.23)

Genetic explanations of talent are also problematic because genetic changes require thousands of years to occur and there have been extreme increases in top levels of performance in a whole range of fields over the past century that have happened too quickly to be connected to genetic changes. (p.24)

To further this discussion, the author off ers research on two individuals who are widely thought of as child prodigies: Wolfgang Mozart and Tiger Woods. Behind the stellar accomplishments of both men, there are many commonalities. The most prominent commonality is the number of years of practice undertaken before each achieved greatness.

For Mozart, his fi rst masterpiece was Piano Concerto No. 9, composed when he was 21 years old, after 18 years of extremely hard expert training (beginning at age 3), with his father who was also a famous composer, and very interested in how music was taught to children. (p.25, p.26)

For Tiger, his fi rst outstanding performance came at the age of 19 as a member of the U.S. team in Walker Cup play, after roughly 3 years (beginning at age 7 months) of focused practice with his father,
and 17 years of intense practice with professional teachers (after the age of 4). (p.30).

Innate talent doesn’t appear to be a likely explanation for business success either. To this point, the
author off ers the example of Warren Buff et, whose world-class record of fi nancial accomplishments
began to accumulate after he was well into his thirties, after over 20 years of working diligently in his chosen fi eld. (p.31) When asked to explain his success, Tiger and his father always gave the same
reason: hard work. (p.31), something that all of these individuals had in common.

Intelligence and Memory
Memory and general intelligence have long been considered part of the key skill set possessed by
great performers. However, the research suggests very strongly that the link between intelligence
and high achievement may not be that powerful. (p.45)

In fact, intelligence was shown to be a poor indicator of better performance in the areas of sales (p.42), chess playing (p.45) and handicapping horse races (p.43). Study results suggest that “whatever it is that an IQ test measures, it is not the ability to engage in cognitively complex forms of multivariate reasoning.” (p.44)

As the author notes, multivariate reasoning is actually a good description of what most people do in their working lives, and what the best performers do extremely well. It just doesn’t require above average intelligence to do it. Similarly, the research demonstrates that memory is a developed, not an innately determined ability.  (p.46) The Carnegie Melon study clearly showed that a subject with average  intelligence and ability could expand his memory exponentially over time, with practice. (p.38) Remarkable memory ability is apparently available to anyone. (p.47)

It is interesting to see what successful organizations are looking for in employees. They tend to focus on desired behavior rather than cognitive abilities or traits, and have worked to develop hiring criteria to support their employee selection processes. (p.48) These behaviors include: external focus, inclusive leadership, confidence, energy, ability to energize, decisiveness, ability to execute, sense of humor, sense of mission, and team orientation. (p.48) All of which have broad applicability through out the public and private sectors. While it’s true that people have individual traits that may impact their behavior, these traits
can be overcome with effort.

Moving On
The author’s contention that it is deliberate practice that ultimately leads to high level performance
seemingly makes achieving excellence an attainable goal for anyone who is willing to expend the effort and take the time. An organization’s greatest resource is its employees.

Organizations that are able to hire and retain those employees who are willing to expend the effort and take the time are going to be the most successful in any fi eld be it in the public or private sector. Creating a work environment that supports, rather than detracts, from an employee’s ability to apply the principles of great performance is a key element to this success.

As the author notes at the end of the fi rst chapter, “The fi rst step in understanding the new findings on great performance is using them to help us identify what we know for sure ain’t so.”

The f rst three chapters of Talent is Overrated discusses in detail what doesn’t drive great performance.
The remainder of the book is focuses on what it is that enables people to excel.