Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin
In order to become great at something, we must abandon the belief that greatness is something people are born with. Nor does greatness necessarily come with experience – in fact, many of us get worse at our jobs the longer we do them. Fortune
Senior Editor, Geoff Colvin demonstrates that the real difference between the greats and the also-rans is practice. And it’s not just how much, but how we practice that really matters. True high-performers engage in “Deliberate Practice”, i.e., lasering in on the critical aspects of performance that require improvement, practicing them ad nauseum and getting quality feedback. Colvin shows through examples from business, science, sports, and music that we can use Deliberate Practice to improve in any field we are passionate about.
HIGHLIGHT(S): Companies tend to assign people to roles based on what they are already good at, not what they need to work on. Putting leaders into stretch jobs that will require them to learn and grow, helping them design the best Deliberate Practice activities for that particular moment in their development, and giving timely feedback, are central to building an organization of top performers.
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