The Talent Code Review

I posted this review under my Flourishing blog but feel it would be of interest to coaches so I've posted it here too.

Why do some people excel in their fields while others struggle or stagnate? Is it their genes? Their upbringing? Luck? According to Coyle it's none of the above. Three factors help propel people to achieve more than others: deliberate practice, ignition and master coaches.

The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How. covers a lot of the same ground as Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else but takes a different approach that is broader by spanning the range from basic neurology to coaching techniques. Both books feature the vital role of "deliberate practice", focused effort to improve. Not just doing something repeatedly but also doing something in a targeted manner that drives improvement.

The Talent Code goes a step further to explain why. Repetition causes myelin to grow around neural paths in the brain. This layer of myelin shields the pathway to reduce signal loss and ultimately accelerates and strengthens the signal. Deliberate practice builds myelin while also forcing the practicer to the edge of their ability where mistakes are made. Fixing these mistakes results in strengthening their skill. Although the author doesn't mention it this process also fosters "flow", the state of being so absorbed in an activity that you lose sense of time and of self.

Deliberate practice requires hours and hours of commitment. What motivates people to invest thousands of hours? Ignition: the desire to become who you want to be. (This resembles the ancient Greek concept of daimonism: becoming your ideal self.) These people have a vision of who they want to become: their vision draws them forward.

Practice and fire by themselves aren't quite enough. We need someone to guide us, to push us to the point where we make mistakes then help us correct them. We need master coaches, or "talent whisperers" as Coyle calls them.

These coaches work their magic not with stirring pep talks but with sharply focused, corrective input. When their student does an act correctly they say, "Good, now do this" and pose a more challenging task. He holds college basketball coach John Wooden as an exemplar of this approach. Wooden prefers to present challenges that his players have to solve. If they don't figure out the solution Wooden helps. (I've used this approach in coaching youth and premier league soccer and believe it helps create players who can think for themselves in competition rather than depending on the coach to give them solutions during the game.)

In essence The Talent Code says:

1. To build myelin use deliberate practice (which encourages flow).

2. To maintain motivation follow your ideal self - ignition.

3. To maintain one's course rely on a master coach.

Speaking as someone in his late 50's The Talent Code also has an optimistic message for people like me. You can grow myelin, hence skill, at almost any age. It just takes longer as you get older.

Talent is Overrated Review

I posted this on my Flourishing blog but the ideas also apply to coaching youth sports.

Most of believe some people “have it” and some people don’t. What the people “have” is talent. Gobs and gobs of talent that allows them to be world class level competitors. People like Tiger Woods or Alex Rodriquez. CEOs like GE’s Jack Welch. Many of us believe that these people come into this world equipped with talent that allows them to beat the competition and that we who don’t have it will never be able to reach these lofty heights of achievement.

Geoff Colvin disputes this in Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else . He claims that the top performers in sports, business, the arts and other areas share something in common: the use of “deliberate practice.”

- The gifts possessed by the best performers are not at all what we think they are.
- Even the general abilities … are not what we think.
- The factor that seems to explain the most about great performance is something the researchers call deliberate practice.
- Most organizations are terrible at applying the principles of great performance.

What is deliberate practice? The elements are, as Colvin explains.

It is actively designed specifically to improve performance, often with a teacher’s help. Identify elements that need to be improved then work intently on them. It can be repeated a lot; feedback on results is continuously available; it’s highly demanding mentally; … and it isn’t much fun. … We insistently seek out what we’re not good at. Then we identify the painful, difficult activities that will make us better and do those things over and over.

Speaking personally, I heard about the concept of deliberate practice in my research on soccer coaching in which I stumbled upon an article on the subject. I applied the concept to tennis, my sport of choice. By working diligently on my weaknesses (primarily the serve) I have been able to transform my serve from a liability into a weapon.

Colvin also addresses another misconception. We’ve heard many times that we with repetition we’ll get to the point where we don’t have to think what we’re doing. While it is true we can automatize complicated movements to the point where we no longer have to consciously guiding these movements. In fact, we can thwart smooth performance by thinking too much. However Colvin shows that:

Great performers never allow themselves to reach the automatic, arrested development stage in their chose field. … Ultimately the performance is always conscious and controlled, not automatic.

In other words, top performers maintain a constant awareness of whether their actions are producing desired results. When these results don’t occur, they modify what they are doing to improve their results and use this input to refine the design of their deliberate practice.

In addition to being constantly aware of what they are doing, top performers perceive more. How?

- They understand the significance of indicators that average performers don’t even notice.
- They look further ahead.
- They know more from seeing less.
- They make finer discriminations than average performers.

And top performers “had more knowledge about their field.” They “have better organized and consolidated their knowledge, enabling them to approach problems in fundamentally different and more useful ways.”

In addition to explaining how top performers use deliberate practice to distance themselves from their competitors Colvin shows how we can use the same principles in our own lives.

They approach the job with more specific goals and strategies, since their previous experience was essentially a test of specific goals and strategies; and they’re more likely to believe in their own efficacy because their detailed analysis of their own performance is more effective than the vague, unfocused analysis of average performers. Thus their well-founded belief in their own effectiveness helps give them the crucial motivation to press on, powering a self-reinforcing cycle.

Finally, Colvin explores the role of two kinds of drive: intrinsic and extrinsic. According to his research creative people focus on the task (How can I solve this problem?) and not on themselves (What will solving this problem do for me?). This is an example of intrinsic motivation, being driven from within. Extrinsic motivation on the other hand depends on outside factors like rewards or penalties.

Does Colvin argue that extrinsic motivation plays no role? No.

Extrinsic motivators that reinforce intrinsic motivation could work quite
effectively. Like what? Recognition that confirms competence turned out to be effective. … ‘constructive, nonthreatening, and work-focused rather than person-focused,’ in Amabile’s words. That is, feedback that helped a person do what he or she felt compelled to do was effective.”

Feedback from coaches and teachers focused on the task and doing it better.

Lastly Colvin reveals that the majority of childhood prodigies don’t grow up to be top performers and that top performers are rarely child prodigies. This gives us hope for improving how we perform. “[B]y understanding how a few become great, anyone can become better.”