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Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else MP3 CD – Unabridged, October 30, 2008

by Geoff Colvin (Author), David Drummond (Narrator)

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One of the most popular Fortune articles in many years was a cover story called "What It Takes to Be Great." Geoff Colvin offered new evidence that top performers in any field-from Tiger Woods and Winston Churchill to Warren Buffett and Jack Welch-are not determined by their inborn talents. Greatness doesn't come from DNA but from practice and perseverance honed over decades. And not just plain old hard work, like your grandmother might have advocated, but a very specific kind of work. The key is how you practice, how you analyze the results of your progress and learn from your mistakes, that enables you to achieve greatness. Now Colvin has expanded his article with much more scientific background and real-world examples. He shows that the skills of business-negotiating deals, evaluating financial statements, and all the rest-obey the principles that lead to greatness, so that anyone can get better at them with the right kind of effort. Even the hardest decisions and interactions can be systematically improved. This new mind-set, combined with Colvin's practical advice, will change the way you think about your job and career-and will inspire you to achieve more in all you do.

Print length

0 pages
Language

English
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Tantor Audio
Publication date

October 30, 2008
Dimensions

5.3 x 0.6 x 7.4 inches
ISBN-10

1400158710
ISBN-13

978-1400158713
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Editorial Reviews

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"Geoff Colvin has written a fascinating study of great achievers from Mozart to Tiger Woods.... Talent Is Overrated is not only inspiring but enlightening." ---Donald Trump

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tantor Audio; MP3 - Unabridged CD edition (October 30, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
MP3 CD ‏ : ‎ 0 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1400158710
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1400158713
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.3 x 0.6 x 7.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,206,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13,604 in Job Hunting & Career Guides
- #31,006 in Books on CD
- #37,732 in Leadership & Motivation

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Geoff Colvin

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Geoff Colvin, is Fortune's senior editor-at-large and has written hundred of articles for the magazine including its popular column Value Driven. He lectures widely and is the regular lead moderator for the Fortune Global Forum. Colvin graduated Harvard cum laude with a B.A. in economics, and received his M.B.A. from New York University's Stern School. His first book, Talent Is Overrated, earned global acclaim and was a Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and New York Times business bestseller. www.GeoffColvin.com

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Rodrigo Carranza

Yes, talent is overrated

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2008

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"Talent is overrated" is about how YOU can become a superstar in your chosen field. To be more precise it is about how others have made it!

Filled with interesting facts, this is the map for those who already visualize a high standard goal. Based on scientific research, you can rest assure that you will find the whole truth about what it really takes to achieve greatness. The basic premise is that those who started earlier in life have a greater chance of becoming the next superstars in their fields. The right kind of practice, not talent, is what sets super-achievers apart from the rest.

You will find examples of people who were able to go beyond average performance. Of course the strongest point the research suggests is that you need not have special talents. Isn't that great! Isn't that a great relief! No matter who you are, no matter if you have no talent at all, still you can become great!

The most fascinating example in this book is that of the Polgar's sisters. Polgar was an European scientist that decided to conduct an experiment on his children. He wrote a book about how anyone can become a genius and he decided to prove his theory with his daughters -hence the Polgar's sisters. After many years of very specific training the sisters went on to become the first women to hold chess grand master titles in the history of humanity!

So, with this book you can become a great achiever! The keys to stardom in any field are right here! The secrets are right here! Or are they not? Let's move on to...

Be aware that the book will be of special interests to those who are already on the path to greatness. The research suggests that unless you started very early in life practicing what you want to become great for, then you are pretty much in a huge disadvantage since you would have to practice a great more deal than most professionals practice. Only to catch up!

But professionals have been doing the activity for so long that they are trained to practice a great deal. An amateur is very unlikely to sustain that level of practice with out reaching exhaustion very quickly.

If your interest is to become better at what you do there are other books you could use that are more targeted to the average person. Two examples would be "One small step can Change Your life - the Kaizen way" or "Mastery". Both books can help just about anyone without the extreme demands of super-achievers. By the way, in my opinion both books have a more positive approach to self improvement than what I read in this book.

I really don't want to become great, I just want to enjoy the process and constantly improve my performance. It might not show but there is a slight difference between wanting to become great just for the sake of it, and wanting to improve because you actually love your activity.

Why be obsessed on becoming great? Why not just do what you like and devote your time and effort to it because you love it.

The point I'm trying to make here is that this book might not be beneficial to people with low self-esteem.

Life has much more to offer than just becoming "great". You don't need that kind of success to be valuable. Only passion should drive your art.

To sum up:

This book might be good for you if you are already in love with what you do and you do it to the exhaustion and you want to learn how to train better, and if you have very specific goals and if you are relatively young and if you are willing to sacrifice or devote most of your time and energy to achieving that goal.

This book is not for you if you don't care about becoming "great". If you understand the differences between being successful and be greatly acknowledged in one field.

Successful people are "complete" people. They have balance in their life, they have good relationships, healthy eating habits, exercise, they enjoy an evening in nature or in art and they enjoy their profession, their practice. They are not completely obsesed with one goal, and certainly not with greatness.

In a certain way it makes sense, people that devote their entire life to become "famous" or "great" or "champions" or "superachievers" very often don't build healthy relationship, don't devote time to their spirit. In reality, they are not successful, because they are not really happy and because they don't have real balance in their life.

Now, that doesn't mean super-achievers are not complete. I think many superstars are actually very complete persons. They have plentiful lives. But they didn't strive for greatness. They became great because of their love for their activity, their respect for their activity and their self respect.

Just enjoy your profession or sport or art! Practice, practice, practice! But for the love of it! Practice not because of what you can get from your practice, but to try to give your best to your practice! Life is too short! Live plentifully! If you are to become great, good, if not, good as well!

That's an area the author could have developed a great more deal. He could have written about the social and psychological consequences of working to become a super-achiever.

If you have more important things to do or if you don't have much time to devote to an activity or if you are not relatively young then you might not benefit from this book.

My advice is that you go first to Kaizen and Mastery. If after that you still feel the need to take your performance to a greater level then get this book or search for the original research articles online.

Another great book is "Way of the peaceful warrior" and its movie "Peaceful warrior" It is just about how to take out all that "success" trash that limits us instead of helping us improve. If you are interested in this subjects, I think you might very well enjoy the movie. It is based on a true story.

One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way
Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment
Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives

20 people found this helpful

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Fr. Charles Erlandson

Take Its One Big Idea, Then Get Busy Applying It To Your Passion

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2010

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Any book that has one big, seminal idea that impacts your life is an excellent book. Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin is just such a book.

Other reviews on Amazon have done an excellent job of providing details from the book, so I'll just summarize Colvin's one Big Idea: what separates world-class performers from those who aren't is something called deliberate practice. This is the big secret that this book reveals. What is deliberate practice? It is practice over a 10-year period that is designed specifically to improve performance, can be repeated a lot, has continuously available feedback, is highly demanding mentally, and isn't much fun.

So What?

That's the question we should ask about all such Big Ideas. The "So What?" of Talent is Overrated is that Colvin and others have unlocked part of the mystery of how we achieve greatness. Part of the "So What?" is also that Colvin helps debunk the myth of genius. Genius can often be a convenient excuse. After all, if I haven't been born with a certain gene or genius, then I'm not accountable for having reached certain goals. The concept of genius may become (but certainly doesn't have to be) part of our larger cultural flight from responsibility. Colvin doesn't argue his point this way, but this is an important application of his research.

For these reasons, Talent is Overrated is a very challenging and motivating book. On the one hand, we have a large part of the answer about what is necessary to achieve greatness. On the other hand, we may not like the answer.

Let me address the issue of Colvin's ideas and evidence. Colvin's research is solid and can't be denied. Therefore, we would be wise to understand and apply what he has taught. Some of the other Amazon reviews rightly mention that Colvin's research is, in fact, based on the research of by K. Anders Ericsson and others.

This is important in 2 ways. First, although Colvin's research is not original, it is significant. The article by Ericcson, et al. in the Harvard Business Review is fairly brief and doesn't elaborate or give examples. Colvin's examples of people that fascinate us, like Mozart and Tiger Woods, are important to us receiving what he teaches. Ericcson's book, The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance is more academic and original, but also more inaccessible. Colvin's work is an important popularization of Ericcson's work that has brought this important research to a much larger audience.

I want to address 2 other issues: what Colvin leaves out and how us mere mortals can make use of his research.

First, a few important warnings about Talent is Overrated. What Colvin writes is true and yet not complete. Human achievement is not solely the product of deliberate practice. An athlete or musician may spend the requisite 10 years of deliberate practice with the right coaches and yet not become world class. However, it is certain that if the 10 years are spent wisely, that person will have achieved at very high level. Ericcson's research emphasizes 2 other aspects that Colvin does not give enough weight to: deliberate practice must be accompanied by a succession of great coaches, as well as by a family or strong support system. A lack of either of these may help explain why some who labor diligently for 10 years never approach the very top.

Second, where does this leave the rest of us, those who will never become world class? Rather than despairing that somehow we may miss out by not having had the right parents with enough money pushing us early enough, we should apply Colvin's wisdom to our lives in a way the fits with our own vision of life.

Everyone who would pursue world-class excellence must ultimately ask the question: "Is it worth it?" The entire life of an Olympian, for example, must be dedicated to just one thing. For the single person, such single-focused dedication may be possible. But is it wise to pursue anything to this degree if one is married and has children? What else, possibly more valuable, must be sacrificed to become world-class?

Even if you don't become world-class in your chosen pursuit, the motivation to excel makes the idea of deliberate practice a worthy one. It turns out that the concept of compound interest applies to much of life and that those who start early and are diligent will bear much fruit.

My particular pursuit in life is that of a disciple of Jesus Christ, and deliberate practice has relevance here. I may not become a world-class teacher or writer as I'd like to, but my pursuit of my highest goal in life should be carried out with the same diligence, intensity, and passion as those who pursue music, art, or sports. In the religious life, or the pursuit of any ultimate goal, deliberate practice must be accompanied by a succession of great coaches, as well as by a family or strong support system. And anything that is of lasting value is likely to take a lot of time, be highly demanding, and will often not be much fun.

Interestingly enough, even teenagers can benefit from these idea. I used parts of Talent is Overrated in a high school Biblical Ethics class I taught, and it intrigued and challenged my students.

My advice is to read this book, ingest its one Big Idea, and then get to work in applying it to your own vision and passion!

6 people found this helpful

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João Lima

Muito bom

Reviewed in Brazil on October 3, 2023

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Muito bom livro, chegou dentro do prazo. Apenas alguns desgastes na capa/contracapa mas nada que prejudique a leitura.

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Rubén C

Now you know: it's up to you to be great.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 12, 2012

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Other books in goal achieving just point directions, use opinions and avoid facts. This one tries to give a very deep insight, a thesis, on what is great performance and how greatest performers achieved it. Take that as a warning, this is not the most easy to read book I ever bought, you could find the first part of the book (60 pages or so) a bit slow, but as any scientific paper does, it settles the scenario to talk about the subject in depth and gives the reader the oportunity to follow it.

Talent is overrated gives dozens of examples of great performance based on deliberate practice, gives referenced notes of every paper or research named in the book and takes the time to argue why some ways of training work better than others.

The author gives some advice on how to use this on companies and teams, how to avoid what most organizations do to destroy any chance of great performance and deliberate practice. This part is very interesting if you are starting a business or planning to do so.

I am sorry for those who claim, after reading it, that talent is necessary to achieve greatness, because they just won't have any of it. In fact, I could place a bet here: you, the naysayers, go and ask any great performer, go and ask any great sportsman, any business "prodigy", any "talented" musician or scientist. Tell them that they are the best in their fields because they had a "gift", tell them that they didn't work HARDER AND BETTER (which is more hours but also, and more importantly, well planned time and objectives) than anybody else. They will laugh at the idea.

Michellangelo Buonarroti, arguably the greatest artist of all time, said: "If they knew how much work it takes, they wouldn't call it genius". But, you know, he also said (or they say he said) something that made him unable to believe in such as thing as "Talent", he said "criticize by creating". So I will try to help instead of arguing on the internet, which I found is not the best way for deliberate practice:

I recommend this book for those trying to excel in any field, and would recommend this other books in particular, as they helped me a lot:

Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning For those trying to be something at sports. This book gives good advice, but not easy to follow tips. This is deliberate practice.
E-myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It This is a classic most of you already know, read it if you are trying to run a successful business.
Eat That Frog!: Get More of the Important Things Done, Today! Very short and easy to read, but worth every single word. A deliberate practice manual. Recommended for everyone.
Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character as Told to Ralph Leighton Feynman was a genius, or so called. He surely was one of the greatest minds of the last century, but you will learn (and have lots of fun on the way) that he was trained, raised from his early years, to be a curious mind, to be eager to learn WHY everything happened. This book is also a very important read if you are looking for deliberate practice, other books teach you what to do, this one tells you to have fun with it.

16 people found this helpful

MeisterkochCR

Gene und IQ sind nicht alles

Reviewed in Germany on July 20, 2017

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Laut Geoff Colvin sind die "richtigen" Gene oder ein hoher IQ weder der einzige Weg zum Superstar noch eine zwingende Voraussetzung dafür, was er an vielen Beispielen aus ganz unterschiedlichen Bereichen glaubwürdig beweist. Er sieht vielmehr einen elementaren Schlüssel der Top-Performer in 10.000 Stunden Training. Und da man den größten Teil davon am besten als Kind ohne größere zeitliche Verpflichtung erarbeiten kann, müssen "Genies" früh anfangen zu üben. Das hat mit genetischer Disposition erst einmal nichts zu tun. Allerdings reicht dumpfes Üben alleine nicht aus. Was zählt ist "deliberate practice", also konzentriertes, fokussiertes Üben mit dem klaren Ziel, sich zu verbessern. Auch das Umfeld kann einen wesentlichen Einfluss auf die Entwicklung von Top-Performern sein. Sicherlich sind Eltern, Coaches und Mentoren von Vorteil, die mit Zeit, Geld, Motivation und Tipps zur Seite stehen. Als Beispiele passen hier sicherlich Tiger Woods und Anne-Sophie Mutter ganz gut.

Doch es gibt auch andere Geheimnisse. Wie zum Beispiel den kongenialen Partner, mit dem jemand dann im Duo große Erfolge feiert. So wie das Dream Team Bill Gates und Paul Allen.

Für alle, denen vermeintlich der passende IQ zur galaktischen Performance fehlt, sei gesagt, dass dieser auch hinderlich sein kann. Dies sogar in größerer Dimension, z.B. in Summe innerhalb von großen Firmen. Als Beispiel könnte man hier SONY nennen. In den 80er und 90er Jahren war die Firma DIE Referenz in der Unterhaltungselektronik und ein Sammelbecken für die Spitzenköpfe der Branche. Dennoch waren es die Nerds von Apple, bis dahin eher unbekannt in der Unterhaltungselektronik, die aus dem MP3-Player die bahnbrechende Erfindung iPod gemacht haben. Manchmal sind es eben die Undergogs, die große disruptive Entwicklungen anstoßen. Während die einen am Ende ihr Expertendasein eher einengt und mit Scheuklappen arbeiten lässt, punkten die anderen mit Offenheit, Unbedarftheit, Mut, Frechheit oder Phantasie.

Abgerundet wird das Buch durch allerlei andere Fragestellungen zum Thema, etwa warum die Weltrekorde in sportlichen Disziplinen immer besser werden. An den Genen kann dies definitiv nicht liegen, denn der Gen-Pool verändert sich im Verlaufe von wenigen Generationen kaum. Hier sind es viel mehr moderne, deutlich effizientere Trainingsmethoden und ein ganzheitlicher Ansatz, der z.B. auch neueste Erkenntnisse rund um die Ernährung berücksichtig.

Das Buch ist kein Handbuch "How to become a Super Hero" und auch keine Rechtfertigung, dass der einzelne es gar nicht schaffen konnte, mangels passender Voraussetzungen. Es zeigt vielmehr, dass Top Performer über Jahre reifen und stets einen hohen persönlichen Einsatz bringen. Sie machen einfach, mit hoher Motivation und reichlich Frustrationstoleranz. Sie haben ihre Ziele vor Augen und beschäftigen sich wenig mit den Möglichkeiten des Scheiterns. Wir können von diesen Stars lernen. Einige ihrer Geheimnisse verrät Geoff Colvin.

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S. Gale

Fantastic reading - highly recommended

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 7, 2009

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This is a well written and accessible book. I found it compelling reading and finished it in a few sittings. The main tenet of the book revolves around the Nature vs Nurture debate and there is no doubt that this book is on the side of Nurture. It debunks very effectively the myth of innate talent and lays out the argument that the route to World class performance is through deliberate practice. I, like most of us, am all too quick to blame my inability to master a musical instrument or an artistic pastime on my lack of talent. This book argues that with deliberate practice, this mastery could be within reach. It wouldn't be easy, but neither is it impossible.

It is critical to understand what is meant by "deliberate practice" as I suspect for many of us this will be a key learning. Deliberate practice is an activity designed to specifically improve performance, often with a teacher's help; it can be repeated a lot; feedback on results is continuously available; it highly demanding mentally; and it isn't much fun. There are great examples of what it is NOT and I can empathize with much of the anecdotal comments from my years of trying to master playing the drums. Understanding how to design deliberate practice is clearly key.

The book covers how this can impact organisations as well as individuals. Chapter 9 covers innovation and how deliberate practice can impact the creative process.

As the previous reviewer has commented, some of the material covered in this book also gets a mention in Malcolm Gladwell's latest book (Outliers), however, I found this book more interesting and definitely more practical. It leads the reader to a conclusion as well as providing practical ideas about how to improve your own and your company's performance.

But probably best of all, I found it inspiring and upbeat. Great reading. Highly recommended.

11 people found this helpful

Dr. Chrilly Donninger

Ein ruhiger Hintern ist wichtiger als ein genialer Geist

Reviewed in Germany on October 28, 2014

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Die Grundthese des Buches ist: Genie gibt es überhaupt nicht, Talent spielt nur eine untergeordnete Rolle. Entscheidend für den Erfolg ist jahrelange "deliberate practice". Ich habe für diesen Begriff keine gute Deutsche Übersetzung gefunden. Am besten ist wohl noch zielgerichtetes Training.
Der Autor zitiert zur Untermauerung seine These eine Reihe von Studien. Ich habe mir diese Studien - sofern sie frei zugänglich waren - heruntergeladen und ebenfalls gelesen. Soweit ich das überprüft habe gibt Colvin den Inhalt auch korrekt wieder.
Ich kann allerdings nicht beurteilen, ob es andere Studien gibt, die zu einem gegenteiligen Resultat kommen.
Solange Colvin unmittelbar beim Thema bleibt ist das Buch ausgezeichnet. Leider tut er das nicht immer. Predigen gehört zum Amerikanischen Wesen. Wie doch unsere Organisationen und unser Leben überhaupt besser und wir glücklicher wären, wenn man diese Erkenntnisse umsetzen würde. Man merkt da auch den Fortune-Journalisten. Das fand ich ein bisserl nervig.
Im Großen und Ganzen ist es aber ein durchaus gelungenes und lesenswertes Buch.

P.S.: Der Titel dieser Besprechung ist ein Zitat aus:
Ch. Donninger, K. Manhart: Der PC lernt Schach, Das Spiel der Könige. DOS April 1997.

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Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else MP3 CD – Unabridged, October 30, 2008

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