📖Talent is Overrated

“Experience trap”—people with experience do not perform better than those with very little experience (some even perform worse) → Experience Trap

world-class performance drastically increased since some 100-200 years---because we study more effectively

financial capital is no longer a scarce resource---human ability is

global human ability market

there is a research showing the talent does not exist (or irrelevant to top-level performance)

no genes identifying talent were found yet

There is little or no correlation between high performance and IQ

High performers remember well real-world arrangements, but are “normal” on random tests → Mental models make things easier to remember

Football players spend little time playing football—most of time is devoted to training which has little to do with the game itself → Deliberate Practice might not be directly related to the target activity

train for

• specific needs

• on his own (much of work)

• no fun

Deliberate Practice: → Signs of Deliberate Practice

• designed specifically to improve performance

  • (might be designed with the help of teacher)

  • (teacher can observe you from the outside)

• at limits (but not much beyond)

  • (choose a specific aspect that needs improvements)

• can be repeated a lot

• continuously available feedback

  • (teacher can provide feedback)

• highly demanding mentally or heavily physical

  • (4/5 hours/day)

  • (60-90 minutes sessions)

• isn’t much fun

There is nothing magical about 10,000 hours (it’s just an average number of hours best violinist have by age 20) → 10,000 Hours Rule

Best performers do not perform on auto-pilot or automatically—they think through what they’re doing

Look ahead in the future (try predicting and playing through different situations)

how to

• Know where you want to go (role-model after a better performer)

• Practice directly

  • Music model

    • repeat the same thing multiple times

  • Chess model

    • solve problem and compare solution

  • Sports model

    • general skills (like fitness, etc.)

      • useful for repetitive but unpredictable conditions

• Practicing in the work (self-regulation)

  • before

    • set goals

    • plan how to reach

  • in process

    • self-observation

  • after

    • self-evaluation (search for errors)

• Deepening your knowledge (domain knowledge)

• Mental model

For organizations:

• understand that each person in organization is not just doing a job, but is also been stretched and grown

• find ways to develop leaders withing their jobs

  • use short-term job assignments (additional to main job)

• encourage their leaders to be active in their communities

• understand the critical roles of teachers and of feedback

  • after-action review, honest feedback

• identify promising performers early

• understand that people development works best through inspiration, not authority

• invest significant time, money, and energy in developing people

• make leadership development part of the culture

• develop teams, not just individuals

  • problems:

    • picking the wrong team members

    • low trust

    • competing agendas

    • unresolved conflicts

    • unwillingness to face real issues

Innovation is neither spontaneous, nor requires no knowledge. These are both myths. In reality, innovation requires extensive knowledge of the field and builds gradually.

Innovation also requires direction. Being “more creative” or “better” does not give a clue of what need to be achieved.

Innovation is better done using internal Motivation, rather than external stimulation (as anything else?)

Deliberate Practice stops aging effect in the related skills

Multiplier effect—small initial advancement in skill pushes to the new environment that advances the skill further, fueling the loop.