Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

Top positive review

Yes, talent is overrated

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2008

"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

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

Jonathan D. Harnum

Geared towards a business audience, but worthy...

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2010

If you're interested in the research and want a pretty easy read, I'd recommend Colvin's book, Talent is Overrated.Most of the relevant research on excellence was covered and he explained it in terms that didn't immediately put the reader to sleep. His examples from the real world were varied and interesting, and although they were leaned towards business heavyweights, there were examples from comedian Chris Rock, football player Jerry Rice and golfer Tiger Woods. One the things about this book I most appreciated is that Colvin was able to speak directly with Professor K. Anders Ericsson, one of the leaders in the research on excellence for the last 30 years.

Colvin's strength in writing about the business world is also a source of one of the book's weaknesses. The text is specifically geared towards a business audience, likely by design, because it's an audience that almost guarantees robust sales for a book, and with Colvin's notoriety in this realm, it's no surprise that this was a specific strategy. Nothing wrong with this, of course, but I found many of the attempts to connect the literature on excellence to the business world to be strained and the connections themselves tenuous at best.

This relates to another shortcoming of the book, which is that it's long on theory and short on practice, as many books about a topic this complex tend to be. We hear a lot about what excellence is, and get anecdotes and vignettes that help us imagine how excellence is embodied in the world, but when the rubber hits the road, when we need to know what to do if we want excellence for our very own, we don't get much help. Colvin makes many vaguely helpful suggestions, but most are general and abstract and not particularly helpful. It felt like some adult telling a kid, "Just do your best." Good advice, but not very specific.

The final slice of meat in this criticism sandwich is that we never hear an alternative viewpoint about the "talent" concept in the expertise literature. If you're out to prove a belief and are using research to back it up, you should also provide the research that points to the alternative hypothesis, namely that innate ability (talent) does matter. One key piece of writing on this is by Simonton in his piece (in a book edited by Ericsson) entitled "The Hidden Cost of Expertise." The Road To Excellence: the Acquisition of Expert Performance in the Arts and Sciences, Sports, and Games, or The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology). The fact that this opposing viewpoint was omitted entirely is perhaps the most significant criticism of the book.

I would have liked to have seen more of his references throughout the book. Granted, this wasn't a piece of scholarly work in which every reference must be catalogued and clearly cited, so it might be a little unfair to demand this, but for those who want to either read the source material or want to learn more about a particular topic and/or ancecdote, there were many gaps.

Finally, I found I struggled with the tone of the book from the moment I read the sub-title: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. This implies an exclusionary bent, which seems to say that experts are somehow fundamentally different from the rest of us, and much of the writing throughout reinforces this approach. It's my firm belief, which is supported by some of the same research in addition to other research, that experts are normal, everyday people who simply have spent the time and energy in ways that earn them the title of expert. There is no separation involved other than the behavior that anyone can learn to do. The trick is always finding the passion that will sustain the behavior.

If you're interested in expertise, this book does a fairly decent job of reporting on the research and Colvin brings in a wide array of examples from the real world, from disciplines other than business. The writing style is journalistic, so it's clear and concise and "just the facts, ma'am," so don't expect to be captivated by this writing as you might with Malcolm Gladwell, who has written a vaguely similar, though more entertaining book, Outliers: The Story of Success.

6 people found this helpful

Filtered by

5 starClear filter

1,194 total ratings, 314 with reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

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

Verified Purchase

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

Helpful

staicovici

Looking in the mirror : generally unspoken truth finally becomes readable. A personal testimony.

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2014

Verified Purchase

In this book the author makes constant reference to a selection of high-profile fields ; among those, piano playing. Thus numerous examples are used from the instrumental practice to make a number of points. For a classically trained, young-age starter professional pianist with extra long studies in a handful of musical domains at the highest level, the book hits home grand style.
In fact, reading it took me through a journey of staring in the mirror. I literally grew up transcending every one of the myths presented here, gradually learning to separate hard truth from alleged misconceptions. So here's a personal testimony in this sense, based on my own hard truth. The following may seem subjective ; indeed I believe it is. But think of it as the exact counterpart to support the findings in the book with actual life experience from someone who's ever been there (and will no doubt forever be).

My journey started at age 4 as the 3rd generation of professional musicians - grandfather and both parents. Therefore I can wholeheartedly support Mr. Colvin's assertions regarding long-term professional building : they're all true and I've known them all.
The supporting family with a naturally oriented bias towards a given field : music ; the constant availability of all forms of material therein : records, scores, training at home by both parents, answers available to any question, guidance and follow-up ; the long years of "drought" as I labeled them - during which one continues to practice an instrument not by pure personal choice but rather because it's so normal, so ingrained in family values that nobody even thinks it could be otherwise (drought means you get almost no pleasure in so doing, it's a constraint. Pleasure comes years later) ; the constant help and feedback from trained, sensitive and, may I add, unforgiving ears ; the double peer pressure - at home as stated and in musical school, where most of the others also are early go-getters in permanent competition for attention, rewards and so on.

So how do you do it ? Here are a few answers. Dig within yourself to find the patience needed to pour in the long hours when no or so little juicy pleasure comes out of them. Try to believe your elders when they keep assuring you that the base you are currently building will forever serve you and place you among the highest achievers in music. Accept to forfeit football games with friends, Sunday mountain excursions, prolonged breaks in week-ends and many of childhood's perks. As the author writes, it may seem barbarous. But reinforce yourself every Monday morning in school, seeing all the other ambitious youngsters around striving likewise towards the same goals. Try to inhale the positive of competitiveness and let it drive you to do more and better. As you finally grow to understand what you're in, you will distinguish your advantages : your advance compared to some others, your self-assurance in performing, your emerging image as a local heavyweight, your future options. Around 14 or 15 things start to be exciting. Instinct tells you you're on the right path. Go on like that for years and yes, you do become a different person as Colvin states. He says the 10 year rule is nothing great comes before that. I would add this : no real pleasure in the meantime either.

But I believe the most important is this : the flow concept discussed in the book. That's where the bulk of it all hit me in the stomach. The day some hidden door opens in your brain and you suddenly witness yourself playing AS YOU WANTED, doing exactly what you hoped for and matching reality with dreams - that day you will never forget. That day I guarantee you will be happy. You will cry with happiness as you play the music, fly on its wings and forget yourself in the process. forget about time, about the noise you make, about the neighbors, even about your teacher's advice etc. When you flow with it, you'll know it. There's no description to match. Flow is the ultimate motivator ; your first-ever flow, a defining experience. Once you taste it, it all will have been worthwile : 10 years of drought, 4 to 6 daily hours of work and concentration on the instrument AND other subjects ; sacrificed week-ends and terrorizing from unforgiving teachers. Mozart did it, Woods did it, they all did it.
And whether history acknowledges you or not, if you've got it you actually don't care. Of course glory is not an achievement ; it's meant to convince others about something. When you really have it, convincing becomes irrelevant.

It's so good to have it all written in words. To me this is more than a book ; it is the chronicle of my story. Thank you Mr Colvin.

PAUL C. STAICU

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Coert Visser

Deliberate practice stretches you

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2008

Verified Purchase

I intended to write a review of Malcolm Galdwell's book Outliers: The Story of Success but I came across this book and I was surprised to find I like this book more (which is not to say that I don't like Outliers by the way). The book not only debugs the talent myth, the believe that talent is a dominant factor in high achievement (which Gladwell has done too in several publications). It also operationalizes the concept of deliberate practice. This concept was introduced by Anders Ericsson, a leading researcher in the field of expertise development. Colvin explains that deliberate practice can be described by these five characteristics:

1. It's designed specifically to improve performance
2. It can be repeated a lot
3. Feedback on results is continously available
4. It's highly demanding mentally
5. It isn't much fun

Deliberate practice is hard and not particularly enjoyable because it means you are focusing on improving areas in your performance that are not satisfactory. Thus, it stretches you. If you'll be able to do deliberate practice, you'll benefit by becoming better. Especially if you'll be able to keep it up for extremely long periods of time. Much research has shown that top performance in a wide array of fields is always based on an extreme amount of deliberate practice. It is hard to find a top performer in any field that has not been working extremely hard to get there. What does 'extremely hard' mean? Well, researchers Herbert Simon and Allen Newel used to say that you need at least 10 years before reaching top performance. Now, researchers have refined their estimate, saying coming up with a figure of 10000 hours. An interesting thing about deliberate practice is that its effect is cumulative. You can compare it with a road you're traveling on. Any distance you have travelled on that road counts. So, if you have started at an early age, this will lead to an advantage over someone who started later.

The book is written by a journalist, not a scholar. And it is well written and the journalist has done a good job in doing his homework. It is full of relevant references to research. It deals with the subject matter in a nuanced and informative way. Overall, it is very convincing.

If I had a say, I'd change two things in the second edition of this book. First, I'd change one section in chapter 1 in which the author talks about the abundance of financial resources. It seems a bit odd to read about that now, when this major economic crisis is hitting us. Second, I'd mention the work by Mindset: The New Psychology of Success . The authors remarks in the last chapter refer so clealry to her body of research. In such a well documented book as this is, this is an omission. One last comment: I would have liked this title better for this book: DELIBERATE PRACTICE.

CONCLUSION: a terrific and thought provoking book. I am glad I have read this. It triggers many thoughts and invites you to take action.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Coops

Makes you think

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2012

Verified Purchase

I read this book several months ago, and have had time to digest it's message, which is essentially what the title says. I agree with it on many fronts that dedicated hard work leads to excellence. However, I do believe that "talent" does exist, and cannot be duplicated simply with hard work. For example, my singing voice is awful. If I dedicated my whole life to singing, it might go from awful to tolerable, or perhaps a bit better, but I'd always be the nitwit on the X Factor who goes on and the judges make a face like they just drank a shot of lemon juice while I'm crooning away. And likewise, I ran spring track in high school, and one year in college. And I've more or less jogged 2-3 times a week for a few miles at 10 min pace since (I'm now 34). However, when I lace up my shoes at a local 5K, I can still crank out 5:45ish miles and soundly beat many people who have cumulatively trained much harder for much longer than I have,even if I haven't run a sub 6 min mile in over a year. Not that I am the best in the world, because I'm not, but that is talent. That is something that most people cannot do if their lives were dedicated to it.
Let's face it that dedicated hard work will produce top results. I agree with that. However, if you take two people, one with a natural aptitude towards something, and another without that aptitude, if both people put in the same exact dedicated hard work, the one with the natural aptitude will always do better. It's just a fact.
So my bottom line review of the book is that it will make you think, and realize that dedicated hard work is what all people do who excel in a particular endeavor. However, it's not fair or accurate to say that we can all be great at anything other than the obvious would preclude us from (a 6'10" person trying to be a gymnast, or a 4'10" person trying to be in the NBA). I think a better title for the book would be "Talent Will Only Get You So Far".
Yet, with that said, it is a book worth reading, as it will make you realize that people who are good at something are good because they have paid dues beyond what the average person is inclined to do.

74 people found this helpful

Helpful

Geoff Puterbaugh

Fascinating reading...

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2011

Verified Purchase

This book may over-emphasize the importance of "deliberate practice," but I think it is very important to bring this topic back into the general discussion.

As a humorous note: they say a distinguished European conductor spent a year or two trying to bring the Thai Symphony up a little closer to international standards, but abandoned that quest and flew home, saying, "After all, it is necessary to PRACTICE!" In the case of performing musicians, that seems beyond debate. I have known two in my lifetime (Eugene Fodor and a pianist) and they both practiced intensely. Fodor in particular was using "deliberate practice," which involves finding your weakest points and then working on them mercilessly.

This same model seems to extend to chess players without effort, and it seems to become universal. One of the hallmarks of "deliberate practice" is that it is not fun. It is not enjoyable. And yet, people who want to become world-class performers need to do this for 4-5 hours a day.

Frankly, I was never a candidate for this sort of stuff. I had no desire to be a "world-class" anything, which means that I had very little ambition. People who are ambitious need to read this book, however. At least, they will remember (or encounter) Benjamin Franklin practicing his writing skills mercilessly, or Thomas Edison running through a thousand candidates for his electric light filament before he got to the right one, tungsten.

The world is a very competitive place, and if you expect to show up on (say) Wall Street and say, "Hi, I have a high IQ so make me a millionaire" you are naive beyond belief. You would do much better to get a copy of Steve Wozniak's iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It and learn to appreciate how he spent his entire childhood and adolescence in "deliberate practice," which finally enabled him to design the world's first personal computer single-handedly.

Very interesting reading in this book. You may hate it if you find out you're a slacker, or you think that the world owes you a living.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bob Manard

Do you believe you could be a World-Class Performer?

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2008

Verified Purchase

Good news...Geoff Colvin provides evidence that great performance is not reserved for a pre-ordained few. Bad news...It is available to you and everyone...if you are willing to pay the price.

"What do you really believe? Do you believe you have a choice in the matter? Do you believe if you do the work, properly designed with intense focus for hours a day and years on end, your performance will grow dramatically better and eventually reach the highest levels?"

One of the fundamental questions to ask yourself is: What do I really, deeply want? This question is crucial, because deliberate practice requires a substantial investment. Colvin suggests that deliberate practice contains the following components:

It is designed specifically to improve performance
It can be repeated a lot
Feedback on results is continuously available
It is highly demanding mentally
It isn't much fun

Everyone who has achieved exceptional performance has faced tremendous challenges...there are no exceptions. Top performers make knowledge a direct objective and set goals to be an expert in their chosen field. Colvin suggest that the 10 year rule...10 years of consistent, deliberate effort... is required to be outstanding in your field.

The book provides a snapshot of the preparation time for: Jerry Rice, Tiger Woods, Mozart, world-class violinists and chess players to give you a sense for the commitment of these performers. Clearly, the time they invest is extraordinary and not for the faint of heart. Perhaps, it is easy for us to dismiss their greatness with genetic predisposition, yet their effort transcends that notion.

Their investment of time and effort allows them to develop deep domain knowledge in their fields which allows them to make finer distinctions. Their knowledge becomes integrated and connected to higher level principles, thus they know more from seeing less.

Now we have some additional evidence for what it takes to perform at the higher levels, so now we cannot easily excuse our life away...we just have to make a decision to claim our destiny!

As you accept that Talent is Overrated...the questions for you are:
What beliefs have guided your life to the present moment?
Is this what you want to achieve?
What beliefs do you need to perform at your desired level?
What do you really, really, really want?
When will you commit to taking action now?

18 people found this helpful

Helpful

Brian Johnson | Heroic

The message in this quick reading, brilliant book is simple: Talent is overrated.

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2015

Verified Purchase

The media could not be loaded.

"We tend to think we are forever barred from all manner of successes because of what we were or were not born with. The range of cases in which that belief is true turns out to be a great deal narrower than most of us think. The roadblocks we face seem to be mostly imaginary."

~ Geoff Colvin from Talent Is Overrated

Geoff Colvin is Fortune's editor at large. He's a great writer and his message in this quick reading, brilliant book is simple: Talent is overrated. (Hence, the title. :)

If talent is overrated then what accounts for the successes of extraordinary performers?

In short: A lot of hard work. Over thousands of hours over many years. More accurately, a lot of what's called "Deliberate Practice"--where we're at our edge and consciously, intensely developing new skills.

"No matter who they were, or what explanation of their performance was being advanced, it always took them many years to become excellent, and if a person achieves elite status only after many years of toil, assigning the principal role in that success to innate gifts becomes problematic, to say the least."

Here are a few of my favorite Big Ideas:

1. The Ten Year Rule - 10,000 hours, baby.
2. The Mozart Myth - & Working furiously hard.
3. You Gotta Know - Where you want to go.
4. They All Knew But... - Only some actually did it.
5. Practice & Napitations - They go well together.

So, let's embrace this potential within ourselves and everyone we meet today and go out and get a little bit better, shall we? :)

(More goodness--including PhilosophersNotes on 250+ books at http://www.brianjohnson.me)

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Camber

Possibly among the most important books you will ever read!

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2008

Verified Purchase

This book is profoundly important because it provides detailed research-based insight into how and why certain people attain excellence in all fields of endeavor.

The short answer is that one must work and practice quite hard for many years, ideally starting from a young age, in a deliberate way which involves continually stretching oneself. The effort is usually difficult and therefore often not fun, and so the motivation to push on must be fueled by a strong inner drive, perhaps aided by extrinsic factors such as encouragement, coaching, rewards, etc. Talent, intelligence, good memory, and other innate gifts may help, but they're not as vital as people commonly believe.

But don't let my short answer suffice, or steer you to skip reading the book. The book is rich with important details and examples which are vital to take on board - this is not one of those books where a single basic idea has unnecessarily been expanded into book length. This topic deserves book-length treatment, and Colvin has done justice to the topic. I expect to read the book again, and this time I plan to take detailed notes and write up an action plan based on the book.

Allow me to add that Colvin's writing quality is absolutely top notch; I don't really see how it could be any better. More specifically, the book is very well organized, precisely written but without excessive formality, and overall very easy to read. I finished it in about two days, and it was hard to put down.

I emphatically recommend this book. Its insights apply to every domain of life, making this book a must read for parents, teachers, students, business owners, managers, employees, artists, scientists, technical professionals, athletes, coaches - in other words, everyone!

Buy it and read it without hesitation. I plan to give this book as a gift to many people during this holiday season and beyond.

Amendment: This book overlaps with, and complements, Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell. Please see my December 30, 2008 review of that book, where I compare a few books in this genre.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Book title doesn't reflect deeper content

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2022

Verified Purchase

I was prepared to argue with book thesis based on title after friend recommended this to me, but once reading it, discovered it actually has some really interesting information and perspective to offer. As an athlete I was used to thinking of people as "gifted" (innate, biologically based talent.) This books offers a very specific approach that is quite applicable to achieve anyone's goals, whether modest or "world class" and even just to shift how one thinks about oneself. Definitely would recommend it to others. Glad my friend insisted!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Stella Carrier

Helps Me Raise the Bar Higher For Myself

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2016

Verified Purchase

I confess that this book Talent is Overrated; What Really Separates World Class Performers From Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin as an Amazon feature recommendation due to my previous/past purchases of the Daniel Coyle books (The Talent Code and The Little Book of Talent) in addition to Mindset by Carol Dweck. I admit that I also purchased this book as an encouragement/book mentor to myself to continue improving on and sharpening my writing skills regardless of what is reflected in my external reality. The book touches on areas such as deliberate practice (page 7) and hiring a teacher andor coach for certain objectives related to desired skill building (page 67). Knowing Where You Want to Go is touched on (page 109) and allocating time and resources towards deliberate practice (page 171).

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Need customer service?

‹ See all details for Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from...

5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star

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

›

Customer reviews

Customer reviews

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

Top positive review

Top critical review

Filtered by

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from... › Customer reviews

Customer reviews

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

Top positive review

Top critical review

Filtered by

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

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

›

Customer reviews