Talent is Overrated: A quick review.
I’ve just finished reading: Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. It is an excellent read and crammed full of insightful and relevant studies of exceptional performers. It seriously questions that notion that high performance is something that individuals are born with.
The two biggest takeaways are:
1) The number of hours of deliberate practice is a much better indicator of high performance than innate skill.
2) All top performers have a teacher/coach or mentor. The notion of doing things on your own is seen as ludicrous from the perspective of a top performer.
What does this matter for you in you career? A lot. It is more evidence that it is possible to rise to the top of your field. But you must be following a well thought out and thorough plan for getting yourself there. Do you have a plan in place? Do you have someone who can lead you along this process?
In many ways talent IS overrated. Unfortunately, a lot of time skill is, too.
For example, in my short career as a dental student I’ve noticed that there are some people that have a bit more aptitude when they start. Others have to spend more time in the lab carving out plastic teeth before the reach the level of competency and then excellence. However, once you get past a certain level of competence, your skill level becomes only marginally better, and even worse doesn’t matter so much.
Another problem is that when you’re the only one that judges your work, and in this case your patients cannot effectively gauge the quality of your work, your skill is no longer the career builder.
Competence + great personality + awesome marketing = successful business and happy patients in my field. I suspect that in other careers the quality of marketing combined with adequate work also makes for better results than someone who only has high skill level.
So I argue that in many ways, talent and skill are overrated, unfortunately.
Alex
You’ve hit the nail on the head. Sometimes the real talent is in marketing your service. Of course in many professions, the difference between proficient and excellent comes with the “add ons” that you deliver. This could be great customer service, convenience, the ability to refer to specialists etc.
In your case, is delivering the “complete” package, giving the customer outstanding service for life, what can really differentiate you?
Yes. I live in America, the land of the rugged individual. The truth is, even those who claim to do things 100% independently still need clients, customers, suppliers etc.