Most of us have been brought up to believe that talent is something people are born with- you either have it…or you don’t.  This idea is so pervasive that what I’m about to share with you may take a few days to sink in.  For that reason, I’ll spend a few days giving you a little information at time, so that you can digest it, and perhaps slowly begin to let it change the way you approach everyone under your management. 

What deeply interests me, is that what you believe about the question, “What Creates Talent?” will determine how you recruit, coach, mentor and parent.  It will determine the questions you ask in an interview, how you train, what you insist on in work performance, etc…

I’ve recently been devouring the book The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle.  Coyle had the enviable job of traveling the globe, studying the world’s most unusual “talent hot beds” – places where unusually high percentages of people excel at what they want to achieve.  He describes the social science and neuroscience around the phenomenon of talent development.  It’s truly amazing stuff! 

He convincingly answers questions like:  

• Why is Brazil so dominant in soccer?

• Why has South Korea gone from having one LPGA touring pro in 1998 to 33 in 2008?

• Why has Russia gone from having three in the top 100 Women’s Tennis Professionals, to 16 today?

• Why have 12 different boys from the extremely small country of Curacao, made it to the semifinals of the Little League World Series six times, over the past eight years, even taking the title once?

The answers to these questions will surprise you, and will have you doubting your preconceived notions of talent development.  I actually want you to ponder the possibilities today…Sorry, I’m giving no answers until tomorrow.  But, I guarantee that the answers will make you a better manager, mentor and parent.

I will leave you to ponder this quote:  Robert Lansdorf, tennis coach of former number one players Pete Sampras, Tracy Austin, and Lindsey Davenport, all who grew up miles from each other said this:

“It’s not about recognizing talent, whatever that is.  I’ve never tried to go out and find someone who’s talented.  First you work on the fundamentals, and pretty soon you find where things are going.”

There is much, much more than meets the eye with regard to this quote.  I will chip away at the science around talent tomorrow…