Design for How People Build Skills

6 Considering the Role of Talent

In which we wonder, just how overrated is “talent”?

Do We Care About Talent?

Okay, I felt the need to tackle this somewhere, so let’s go. In the discussion of skills, this question comes up:

Aren’t some people just naturally talented?

Let’s talk about it. A few years back, there was a spate of books like Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else, by Geoff Colvin; The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How, by Daniel Coyle; and Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success, by Matthew Syed.

What these authors share (besides a fondness for elaborate book subtitles) is the conviction that practice—not talent or innate ability—is ...