"Talent is Overrated Primer" - Where Passion Comes From and the Multiplier Effect...

I finally finished the book "Talent is Overrated" by Fortune Editor-at-Large, Geoff Colvin, which explores the question of whether pure talent or hard, focused work is the key to becoming a world class performer in any discipline.  As you might expect, the book concludes that you can't become world class at anything without putting in tons of hours on your craft and making sure those hours are focused in a certain way.  I read it.  I'm a believer.

The following is one of four quick primers I'll do on the book focused on the following concepts: 1) what Deliberate Practice is, 2) applying the concepts of Deliberate Practice to the workplace and your organization, 3) why creativity/innovation is a myth, and 4) where passion comes from and the "multiplier effect".

Primer #4 - Where Passion Comes From and the Multiplier Effect...

One of the more valuable chapters in Colvin's book is the chapter "Where does the Passion Come From?".  At the core of this chapter is the age old question, "is motivation to achieve great performance intrinsic or extrinsic"?  Does it come from inside us, a natural gift, or does the motivation come from environmental forces?

To answer this question, Colvin walks through a great deal of research, much of which points to the fact that high performers are generally a self-motivated bunch, especially given the fact that the thousands of hours of deliberate practice required to reach the top of a field is a grind - not the most pleasurable way to spend your childhood or early adult life. 

To explain this, Colvin points to something emerging in research called the "multiplier effect", which says that a very small advantage in some field can spark a series of events that produce far larger advantages.  Here's a good rundown from Colvin:

"Note that this multiplier effect accounts not just for improvement of skills over time but also for the motivation that drives the improvement, as the young baseball player's satisfaction leads him to practice more. The sequence proposed by these researchers is strikingly similar to the actual experiences of future achievers reported in Bloom's research.  He observed, "In all the fields most of these young students were regarded as fast learners by their first teachers... Whether or note they were really faster learners than others is not known... However, the attribution of "fast learner" to them by the initial teacher was one major source of motivation.  The teach soon regarded and treated them as 'special' learners, and the students came to prize this very much."

Colvin goes out to outline the same research as recognizing that the multiplier effect was clearly developing the drive of the students - "As they began to receive recognition for the talent in the early years of instruction, the children's investment in the talent became greater.  No longer was the prime motivation to please parents and teachers. It now became the individual's special field of interest."

Small edges, small advantages, perhaps occuring in the external environment, serving to provide positive feedback and results to the child.  As a result, the child likes how that field or interest makes him feel, then becomes self-motivated to invest more and more time in the field voluntarily.

So goes the multiplier effect.  How does that change how you steer your kids?

Comments

[Mike Haberman]

I was reading this last night. Very interesting. I am on Chapter 6, so I have not hit the multiplier effect yet. I just know that between what Colvin says and what Gladwell says I am toast. No chance for me to ever recover and be good at something. Oh well. BTW, it was your intial statements on this book that prompted me to pick it up. Thanks for the heads up on it. It should be required reading for all parents.

[John G]

Soundview just hosted Mr. Colvin in a discussion of his book so I'm reconsidering it. I see "Primer # 4" was written on March 25, 2009. When were others done? Where can we find them.

[MP3 Players]

Note that this multiplier effect accounts not just for improvement of skills over time but also for the motivation that drives the improvement, as the young baseball player's satisfaction leads him to practice more.