Why Are We Sometimes So Wrong About Who Has Extraordinary Talent?
Many of the greatest performers of all time, across multiple fields and disciplines, were once judged as having little or no talent.
One talent scout’s assessment of acclaimed dancer Fred Astaire read: “Can’t act, slightly bald; can dance a little.” Smile when you read the talent assessment of quarterback Tom Brady by a highly regarded scout: “Skinny, lacks mobility, lacks a really strong arm, gets knocked down easily.”
Walt Disney was once dismissed from a newspaper job because he lacked creativity and failed to generate original ideas. Similarly, Oprah Winfrey was viewed by television executives as lacking stage presence and the ability to connect with viewers. Steven Spielberg was rejected from multiple film schools because of low grades and a lack of intellectual curiosity. Paul McCartney was assessed as having a pleasant voice but not one that was distinctive or powerful enough to earn success. The writer J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame faced rejections from multiple publishers because of the verbosity and complexity of her stories and prose.
The list of major stars who were initially rejected or assessed as having little or no talent is enormous. Ask the superstars of business and education, and you will hear much of the same story.
People, like leaders and recruiters, who are in the business of recognizing and identifying talent too often swing and miss when it comes to identifying those with exceptional gifts. This is especially true regarding those with rare talents who go on to change industries, break records, and become maestros at what they do.
Why are we so often wrong about those who have special talent? Perhaps it’s not about talent at all, but rather about an inner drive to succeed that distinguishes those who go onto stardom.
Of all the predictors, indicators, and barometers employed through assessments of talent, the one intangible quality that can never be accurately diagnosed or identified is drive. Many people who think they have it don’t, and many people who have it are fearful of being judged as too ambitious or arrogant to speak about it.
People who are willing to do whatever it takes and never let the foot off the pedal of self-improvement develop extreme talents and skills and not the other way around. It is the extraordinary drive and commitment to succeed that allows ordinary people to scale the heights of excellence.
Learning who has the fire is made even more difficult because the flame of drive often doesn’t take hold until after rejection or disappointment. Perhaps Walt Disney really did lack creativity and originality when he worked his first job at a newspaper. Maybe his fire was ignited by being fired. No one will ever know.
The point is not to lament the fact that we will likely miss some exceptional performers during our assessment of them. That is inevitable. But understanding the secret ingredient of massive success should encourage us to watch, observe, and listen to how others engage the world.
For those who have found a spark that has turned into a flame there is no time off from the work at becoming great. They prove it with everything they do, almost every day. Very few people have that kind of drive. When you see it, consider it talent about to unfold.
Re: the one intangible quality that can never be accurately diagnosed or identified is drive...
We live in a multivariate world and predicting the future is really hard. With that said, 'drive' has been identified and is used to predict future success in many areas:
Hogan Personality Inventory subscales for:
- Ambition - Competitive, Self-confident, Accomplishment, Leadership, Identity, and No social anxiety.
- Prudence (Conscientiousness) - Moralistic, Mastery, Virtuous, Not Autonomous, Not Spontaneous, Impulse Control, Avoids Trouble.
When talking about who is/was the greatest and what their 'secret sauce' is, we need to be careful of our cognitive biases. Here is one of many that stand out when I read something on the topic of today's Field Note:
Survivorship Bias
- The tendency to concentrate all our attention on the things people did that were successful while forgetting about all people that did the same or similar things that failed during the same period.
The path leading to success (it is the effort not the outcome that matters) is neither sacred nor complicated. The Admired Leadership platform - Making Time to Lead, and the Daily Field Notes, are testimony to this. Another great resource I keep in my reference library on this subject is Peter Drucker's little book, The Effective Executive:
Notes from Preface and Chapter 1
- Effective people have had to learn to be effective and then had to practice effectiveness until it became habit.
- Effective people know where their time goes.
- They focus their efforts on results rather than on the work.
- They build on their strengths.
- They concentrate on a few major areas where superior performance will produce outstanding results.
- They make effective decisions.
If there were ever a recipe in making G.O.A.T. - I believe these are the main ingredients maybe with a dash of good fortune thrown in for flavor.
Thank yo for the insight, I found it interesting. I very much agree with you on can't see the drive within someone.
May be you know the answer to this, what sources are you aware of which may address the issue of not necessarily getting it wrong about talent, but purposefully getting it wrong due to fear? The fear of the person with this talent may take the position of the recruiter, the scout, the boss, whom ever.
It has been nearly two decades since I read a particular article where people will purposefully, stack the deck against a person with talent out of the fear of losing their status, or position in an organization. In essence the author wrote, a manager would promote someone with less skills and talent over another, to act as a buffer between them and the next rank or position.
Again, thank you for all your organization does to promote thought.