The myth of inborn talent

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There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
Gen. Colin Powell
1937 –

Often, we’ll look at remarkably talented individuals and wonder why we weren’t blessed with some innate ability that would rocket us to success. But studies of successful people have found little correlation between achievement and talent. It turns out that talent — a skill we’re born with — is highly overrated.

Skeptical? Consider an experiment carried out by Hungarian psychologist Laszlo Polgar. He believed that talent is made, not born, and decided to test his theory: he would raise his children to be champions in some field where neither he nor his future wife showed great skill.

Laszlo advertised for and eventually found a wife who agreed to carry out the experiment with him. They choose the game of chess as the skill for their children to master; Laszlo was a mediocre player, while his wife had never played the game.

The Polgars had three girls. Laszlo and his wife Karla home schooled their girls and included intensive training in chess as part of their education.

How did the girls do? Playing a game dominated by men, the eldest daughter became the first ever female grand master. At the age of eleven, their second daughter became the youngest ever grand master of either sex. And their third daughter is currently the top ranked female chess player in the world.

The point of the experiment was that intensive practice trumps talent. Hard work is more important than raw ability. As Carol Dweck, author of Mindset, said, “It’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil and training.”

There are, of course, some physical limitations to what a person can do. If you’re very short, a career in professional basketball might not be an option. But for most activities, hard work is much more important than any qualities you inherited. Total commitment to your goals will take you a long way.

So don’t fret about lack of talent. The most successful people are the ones who are totally committed to achieving their goals.

That which we persist in doing becomes easier — not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do it has increased.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803 – 1852

Copyright © 2014 John Chancellor

Comments

The myth of inborn talent — 5 Comments

  1. Thank you for this excellent article. It ties in with what we teach on our courses and our goals for the Mind Your Head Challenge, especially in promoting chess and having positive goals for later life.

  2. John,

    Loved your post. I have often wondered whether inborn talent translates into success and whether someone without talent in a given area can succeed through hard work. You’ve answered the question well. It gives me hope that even those skills that come hard to me can still be mastered.

  3. Talent certainly helps but as Carol Dweck said in her book, it is often a handicap. People rely too much on talent and forget about the hard work. I think the perfect combination is a nice touch of talent combined with lots of hard work … and Katie is a perfect exaple of that.

  4. Great article, thanks for sharing. Reminded me of this quote:

    “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge.

    Talent is definitely overrated.