Because, as we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.
—John Cleese
When we hear about the early death of a celebrity, whether that be Anton Yelchin, Paul Walker, or Heath Ledger, we discuss the wasted talent caused by the use of drugs or alcohol that side-tracked fantastical talent and stopped the individual from expressing their talent to its fullest. But talent isn’t restricted to the greats or to celebrities, and wasted talent happens daily in organizational life. For many individuals, they do a job because they have bills to pay. It may be that they fell into a job because it was the only one they could get at the time, and this has led to a career path they are following not because it is an expression of who they are, or because it utilizes their talent, but just because that is the opportunity that has presented itself. For others, they may have believed their teachers, parents, or bullies at school when they were told they would never amount to anything, and lost their confidence in any talent that they did have. Alternatively, individuals may not have had the opportunity to understand what their talent is or not had a lucky moment when they fully realize what it is they are good at, so spend their whole lives believing that they don’t have a purpose, deserve nothing better, and worse still that they are useless.
In our early years, our measure of success and capability is linked to our educational achievements, and how we measure up against our peers in class tests and exams becomes a defining part of our childhood. Education, often seen as an essential part of freedom and an enabler for freeing people to succeed in life, has moved away from helping children to succeed in whatever area of life they have a talent for, and has, through a process of managerialism switched the emphasis to rankings and qualifications. More and more pressure is put on children at an early age to reach a specified standardized score in a narrow band of subjects but specifically in reading, writing, and mathematics. Our success as children is limited to those individuals who have academic talent, at the detriment of those who are creative, artistic, or sporty. We, therefore, learn at an earlier age that we don’t have talent or lack ability because we fail to meet the criteria that we are being measured by.
But talent doesn’t necessarily equate to academic achievement; just look at Virgin Boss, Richard Branson, who had no exams and left school early, and yet have an amazing talent as an entrepreneur and leader. Childhood measures of talent are limited to just a few types of talent or intelligence. Being able to be a success in life takes more than being able to answer a math question, or answer a comprehension question about a set text that you have read. Human intelligence is much more complex than that and has so much more to offer, than being good academically, and yet this is the yardstick by which we measure our children and condition beliefs about talent. Gardener (1983) identified nine types of intelligence:
- Spatial: visualizing the world in 3D
- Naturalist: understanding living things and reading nature
- Musical: discerning sounds, their pitch, tone, rhythm, and timbre
- Logical–mathematical: quantifying things, making hypotheses, and proving them
- Existential: tackling the questions of why we live and why we die
- Interpersonal: sensing people’s feelings and motives
- Bodily–kinesthetic: coordinating your mind with your body
- Linguistic: finding the right words to express what you mean
- Intrapersonal: understanding yourself, what you feel and what you want
Gardener (1983) offers a much more holistic approach to human capacity and his model challenges set notions of what it is to be talented, providing a much richer kaleidoscope of what it is that makes individuals successful and able. Many people go through their whole lives not realizing their talent, and many would read a book like this and believe that they don’t have talent, and that this chapter doesn’t apply to them. To those people I say it is time to recognize the talent you possess. Everyone, and I mean everyone, and that includes you, has talent. There, I said it. Now just to reiterate, to make sure you got the message—EVERYONE including YOU has talent.
Finding Talent
So, now we have established that you have talent, the question is, what is it and, more importantly, how do you find it? Firstly, the talent you possess will be unique to you but this doesn’t necessarily mean it will be valued by the world at large. I don’t say this to depress you, but for you to understand that your talent has value in specific places. It might be that your talent will lead you to receive a Nobel Peace Trump, but it might not lead to worldwide recognition and fame. It could be that you win a Grammy or that you just make kids smile in the school gym. Talent comes in all shapes and sizes, and it also isn’t always recognized the way it should be. It’s why talent shows like Britain’s Got Talent are so popular, there’s always a Susan Boyle out there who can get Simon Cowell to raise his eyebrows in surprise. We don’t all get the recognition we deserve, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t possess some awesome talent. Also some types of talent lead to red carpets, others lead to a life of service, without a Golden statue. For example, in most organizations, there exists the most fantastically talented administrator. The person who makes sure that the stationary cupboard is always stocked, who actually balances the various elements that ensure that a department runs smoothly. They are the unsung heroes of an organization and are only appreciated when they leave a business or go on holiday for two weeks and the whole place goes to pot. These people might not ever get international acclaim for their efforts, but they have a talent that, even if it is not recognized, adds enormous value to an organization and to the people who work in it.
Secondly, your talent might be significant only in particular situations and contexts. By this I mean that your talent is only talented in certain circumstances. For example, David Beckham’s ability to calculate the angle and distance of kicking a football in order to bend it like Beckham is only useful on a football field. In a sales office, Beckham would be a failure, but as a football professional, his talent was lauded. The moral of the story is that your talent might not be appreciated in the context in which you find yourself. It might be that you have an amazing talent that is not utilized in your current situation. Maybe you will need to change where you are, for your talent to be recognized and put to good use.
Thirdly, your talent will probably seem ordinary to you. It usually is something you are good at naturally. Whether that is your ability to find your way around an engine or an IT system, the mysterious way you connect and network with people without realizing it, how you can work out the logical steps needed to solve a problem without effort, or solve impossible interpersonal problems bringing a calming presence and bringing people together and collaborating seamlessly. Most people only realize they have a talent when someone else spots it or asks you to break down what you have just done and you can’t because it’s just something you can do. Therefore, become aware of the stuff that people ask you to do because you are good at it. Notice the things that you can just do without effort, and have somehow found yourself as the ‘go to person’ for a particular thing. Don’t just rely on your own intuition about what might be your area of talent; ask colleagues, family, and friends what they think your strengths are. You might discover a theme of strengths you possess that maybe you weren’t even aware of but that are appreciated by those around you.
Finally, talent only becomes useful when it is developed. Raw talent is exceptional, and we all have talent in a raw form. But like anything, it can only be utilized when we understand how to tap into it, how to use it properly and appropriately, and when we understand how to use it fully. Syed (2010) in his book, Bounce, observed that talent came from 10,000 hours of purposeful practice and expert talent comes from knowledge. Being good at something will only take you so far; talent, fully realized can only be utilized when you work hard to develop it, understand it, and take time to refine it. For example, the television in our lounge has a remote control, which has about eighty buttons on it. I can use the on/off button, the channel changing buttons, the volume buttons, and the button to switch from TV to DVD, about ten percent of the capacity of the remote control. There is nothing wrong with that, because I can use the buttons I need to operate the TV. It performs the function it is designed for, but it does mean that I don’t fully understand or have the ability to fully capitalize on the total capability of our TV. For all I know it might be able to make me a cup of tea and order my weekly shopping. You laugh, but how would I know what is possible without understanding how it works?
Using this analogy, consider your talent; currently, you may only be aware of some of its most basic functions, which in itself makes you better than the next person at what you are doing. However, if you are only using ten percent of your full talent capability, then you are not yet capitalizing on your full potential, you are simply scratching the surface.
How Much Talent Potential Do You Have?
Your successful utilization of your talent potential will only become known as you stretch the boundaries of what you think you are capable of. Therefore, take every opportunity you have to understand and develop your talent. A 10,000 hours might seem like an impossible amount of time to dedicate to become excellent; however, you have a lifetime to find out what you are really capable of, so there is every chance that this goal is within your reach.
In truth, no one knows what he or she is truly capable of until they try. How can we know what abilities we were born with until we are given an opportunity to do something with them? Sometimes, the only way we can discover whether we can do something is to be brave enough to give it a go. More importantly, we must not allow ourselves to settle for a comfortable level of achievement, when it comes to our talent. We must continue to invest in our talent in order to continuously improve; it is always possible to go one better. If we don’t invest in our talent, especially in developing our skills and knowledge, then we begin to get stagnant. There appears to be a perception that as you age, you become an ‘old hat’—but this perception is misconceived. We only become outdated when we stop learning and developing ourselves. The moment we begin to believe that we no longer need to develop our skills, knowledge or behaviour, is the moment that our talent begins to decline. The world continues to move forward. What was good today will not be good enough tomorrow, and, therefore, we need to work hard to stay relevant and keep our talent fresh. Potential is elusive, it is something yet to be determined, an opportunity to be discovered at a later date. We do not yet know what we are truly capable of. Don’t let others prevent you from living to your full potential. Stop making excuses and start living your talent.
Whatever your future capability, do the important stuff now:
- Value your own talent, because it might not be recognized by other people.
- Realize that your context defines whether your skills, knowledge, and capability are recognized and valued.
- Your ordinary is someone else’s extraordinary; recognize your extraordinary for yourself.
- Be deliberate about developing your talent; keep pushing yourself to get better.
Manage Your Career Tool #8 – What Can You Own?
Very often, we will make excuses for why we can’t do something, blaming inexplicable forces that get in the way of our ability to get on with getting on. However, many of the barriers that we face turn out to be little more than assumptions about what we can or can’t do.
Clic, Winning, describes how he worked with the England Rugby team, leading them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. In the book, he describes his determination to bring as much as possible under his control in order to support the team in achieving success. There were things that the coaching team couldn’t do anything about (ICDFAA); these we things like the weather, the time that the rugby matches were to be played, or the condition of the pitch. There were things that the team could influence (ICI). This included persuading the rugby teams that the international players played for, to release the players to make them available for a summer training camp, or to ensure that the team would get time to acclimatize to the heat in Australia. Finally, there were those things that the team could take ownership for (ICO); nutrition, training regimes, fitness, and physiotherapy. The team worked hard to bring as much stuff into their sphere of ownership as possible, and where they couldn’t own it, recognizing who and what they could bring under their sphere of influence.
The same principles can be used in developing your talent. This means identifying what you can own, what you can influence and what you can, quite frankly, do nothing about. In Task 1, you need to consider your career and your talent development, keeping mind the 10,000 hours of purpose practice required to release your talent potential and develop your expertise. Once you have completed the task, take the actions required to begin the process of owning the release of your talent potential.
Task 1 – I Can Own, I Can Influence, I Can’t Do Anything About
Complete the table below giving consideration to your career and your talent development, keeping mind the 10,000 hours of purpose practice required to release your talent potential and develop your expertise. Identify what you can own, what you can influence and what you can do nothing about.
