Does Talent Actually Exist?

       Recently in Open English we have been reading a very interesting book called Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. The book begins with Colvin explaining that few people will ever achieve what we call true greatness.  In that chapter he also explains that hard work and experience is not what makes people great.  In some cases it can make them worse.  He also goes on to try and prove that talent does not exist.  That natural born abilities are not real and they are not the key factor in someone’s amazing success.  He examines the rise in greatness standards throughout history to now.  So by the end of the first chapter he has his audience questioning what does lead to success, and he give them the answer in the next chapter.  Practice.  It all has to do with practice.  How you practice, what you practice, how long you practice; it all is the key to greatness.  Also it opens up the fact that anyone could achieve greatness.  The topic he keeps coming back to in these first two chapters is that what you need to achieve success and greatness in any field is to use deliberate practice and to have the drive to achieve.

            I was a little skeptical about Colvin’s claim of talent not existing at all.  And Colvin admits in chapter two that maybe talent does exist, but it doesn't matter because even if talent is real it seems to be irrelevant.  Colvin had proven through studies and examples that having a slight ability for something does not people at a high vantage point over others.  That’s truly amazing!  If what he is saying really is true it opens up a whole to world to achieve in for people who thought they could never doing anything because they didn't have a magical talent.  People often bring up two examples when faced with anti-talent thesis, Mozart and Tiger Woods.  But in reality both of them just worked incredibly hard from a very young age, and this caused them to achieve greatness at a young age.  The main influence on both of them was pushy fathers who wanted them to achieve.  Teaching Tiger was basically an obsession of his father, and Mozart's father strived  for him to be amazing.  These two stories make me think of a quote from the  author John Green's book An Abundance of Katherine's.  "The vast majority of child prodigies don't become adult geniuses."  I think this quote really connects because it's saying you can't rely on a "God given talent" per say to carry throughout life.  I think that's a main point Colvin's trying to make; you have to work hard to achieve and there is no way around that.  To conclude, though I was kind of skeptical about Colvin's original claim I think that he has proved his point, and he was able to portray his ideas to an audience in a clear connectable way.

If you are interested in reading this book now I'll put a link where you can buy it down below.

http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Overrated-Separates-World-Class-Performers/dp/1591842948