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Management Search Management ManagementTalent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
Nicholas Brealey Publishing Ltd Search Nicholas Brealey Publishing Ltd by Geoff Colvin Search Geoff Colvin
Customer Reviews:
Those who think that talent is the key are usually the unsuccessful ones
What a fabulous book finally discarding the myth that talent is the most important factor in success. I totally agree that talent is simply overrated. If it was all about talent, then Michael Jordan would have made the varsity team in high school. So what separates the great performers from the rest? The author argues that it is "deliberate practice," which is not what most of us think of as practice. Deliberate practice is extremely demanding and is not fun at all. It focuses on continuous improvement and it is hard and it hurts. It challenges current skills rather than reinforcing the old habits.
When certain people achieve high success, the general public might see it as "instant success," but the authors say that it usually takes a decade of deliberate practice. From my experience, the only people who believe that talent is the key are the ones who do not find much success in anything. The ones that are successful almost always say that talent had nothing to do with it. This is a great book, and I appreciate how complete the author's research is.
- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market
An inspiration, and a challenge
This book is both an inspiration, and a challenge. It tells you that you can achieve great things...but only at the price of long, arduous and disciplined practice. Likewise if you have already got yourself to some level of performance that is good, but if you want to go further you may need to do much, much more than just redouble your efforts. In this its ideas dovetail with those of Marshall Goldsmith and his book, "What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How successful people become even more successful"
This book is a great corrective to views such as "it's all in the genes" or "he came from the right sort of house" or "people round here just can't do that." You cannot completely deny the power of genes and environment, but this book shows how how can make great use of both, to further your performance level at a certain task.
This book shows why truly great performance is rare- the combination of opportunity and willingness to stick to disciplined practice for long enough is actually rare. But it is also optimistic in that it shows how most of us could raise our performance level when we have a need and reason to do so.
An enjoyable book, with a useful message, and easy to read. I can recommend it to those readers who are interested in understanding and improving either their own or their colleague's performance.
A good read , maybe a bit drawn out but a useful insight into talent development and our expectations. 
A good read and I read it from a sports coaching perspective. The examples given were insightful and inventive. Overall the author got his point across. Certainly, I enjoyed it as it reinforced what I knew of the 'Teapot Theory'. The more you put in the more you get out.
What you have always known..
I loved this book, it gives solid reasons for what many of us have suspected. Well written with compelling arguments, the premise is sound and brilliantly delivered.
Thought provoking ...and revolutionary
Like most people i have marvelled at top performers in sport , music and the academic world, wished i could emulate them and then dismissed this because their gift was 'obviously genetic'.
However advances in research question this and point the way for everyone to achieve much much more. This book outlines these developments in an easily understandable way. If i have any criticism it is that the author downplays the revolutionary impact this should have on schools and the way children are brought up. However overall this is a stunning book that i expect to read and re read many times.
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Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else & More...
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Actually I got a bit sidetracked for a few days, but in a good way ...
... some books that I bought after discovering an unspent amazon voucher. Highly recommended: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Talent-Overrated-Separates-World-Class-Performers/dp/1857885198/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255264453&sr=8-1 ...
http://rigged4riches.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/107/
book review: talent is overrated
in the business world think about how seldom employees are encouraged to develop world class skills. so, stop reading and start practicing. the other related book is outliers by malcolm gladwell. beställ: talent is overrated. 1857885198.
http://blogger.steinberg.se/archives/634
