Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin
-->Call#153.9 COLVIN; New York : Portfolio, 2008.

I was very excited to read this book. The title captivated me as did the beginning. The thoughts of what does really separate World-Class performers from everybody else really resonated with me. Not only did I want to find out what separated them, but also how to get there. This book is very thorough with the topic. It covers world class performance, to applying the principles in our lives and organizations, to teamwork, to great performance in the young and old and finally to having the passion of great performance. It starts strong but then I find it tapering, maybe because there was a lot of scientific aspects of the book that I found unrelatable. However middle to end, the books finishes strong like how it started.

Great performers focus not only on the outcome, but also on the process to achieve their goal. World-class performers believe that all of their work will pay off in the end. They are very good at self-observation and will critique themselves on specific areas, systematically judging themselves. After they have critiqued themselves, typically they will adapt and try the task again, this time most likely better than the last time but also continuing a self analysis. Great performers aren’t necessarily good at remembering but at making mental models of what they want to accomplish and how they will accomplish it. The book breaks it down like this, great performance comes from:
· Well designed practice activities
· Coaching
· Repetition
· Feedback
· Self regulation
· Building knowledge
· Mental models.

Applying world class performance in the workplace often means that the workplace needs to seek out those that they think can become exceptional performers. The author gave an example from GE and they could look and tell if someone would be a great performer from their 1st day at work! They looked at how well they interacted with their coworkers whom they did not know or hadn’t met and this one thought made them look at how well they would succeed. I found this fascinating! The author went on to include that even though we value experience, experience is not what makes great performers as sometimes it actually makes some people perform worse. People’s best performance is usually exhibited from the beginning of their work and will continue much like how they started. They also said that typically 10 years of teamwork is what earned the best results. The author also made a point to say that knowledge of one’s domain did not equal their years of schooling on the topic. “Innovation doesn’t strike, it grows.” Too much familiarity with a topic can blind someone to a reasonable solution. Passion develops.

It also went on to talk about parents developing high performers which was very interesting if you are a parent of someone younger.

All in all, a great book. If you read it and the first part doesn’t stir you, it does get better in the middle and stays consistently captivating till the end!