I have been working my way through a fantastic book named Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin (Senior Editor at Fortune Magazine). The book systematically tears apart long-standing beliefs that the highest performers in various fields (music, sports, business) were somehow blessed with innate talents or preordained for greatness.
Rather, scientific studies of high performers across many different fields suggests that innate talent has very little to do with high performance. Rather, the one common theme that emerges from these studies of top performers is the presence of "deliberate practice" - challenging, difficult practice that is highly designed to address performance weaknesses.
In other words, there are no shortcuts to greatness. At the same time, hard work isn't enough either. It has to be the right kind of hard work, specifically targeted with expert coaching and feedback and sustained over years of craft development. This is the kind of book that one wishes they had read when they were 19.
Colvin posits that these techniques of deliberate practice are available to all of us, though I am not sure how well they map in the daily grind that is corporate America. In any event, I found the book inspiring and enlightening.
Pete Maravich comes to mind as a perfect example of the deliberate practice model. Raised by a basketball coach father (Press Maravich), the Pistol's work ethic growing up was second to none. Tales of his practice regimen were legendary.
Ultimate COLLEGE Pistol Pete Maravich MIX
Maravich Book | MySpace Video
That sequence of passes from around 2:25 to 2:47 was just sick.
