Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
Geoff Colvin





Format: Hardcover, 224pp.
ISBN: 9781591842248
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Pub. Date: October 16, 2008

Average Customer Review:



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Description and Reviews
From The Publisher:

Expanding on a landmark cover story in Fortune, a top journalist debunks the myths of exceptional performance.

One of the most popular Fortune articles in many years was a cover story called “What It Takes to Be Great.” Geoff Colvin offered new evidence that top performers in any field--from Tiger Woods and Winston Churchill to Warren Buffett and Jack Welch--are not determined by their inborn talents. Greatness doesn’t come from DNA but from practice and perseverance honed over decades.

And not just plain old hard work, like your grandmother might have advocated, but a very specific kind of work. The key is how you practice, how you analyze the results of your progress and learn from your mistakes, that enables you to achieve greatness.

Now Colvin has expanded his article with much more scientific background and real-world examples. He shows that the skills of business—negotiating deals, evaluating financial statements, and all the rest—obey the principles that lead to greatness, so that anyone can get better at them with the right kind of effort. Even the hardest decisions and interactions can be systematically improved.

This new mind-set, combined with Colvin’s practical advice, will change the way you think about your job and career—and will inspire you to achieve more in all you do.



Reader's Index 
Send us your favorite quotes or passages from this book.

• "At most companies—as well as most educational institutions and many nonprofit organizations—the fundamentals of great performance are mainly unrecognized or ignored." Pg. 108


About the Author

Geoff Colvin, Fortune’s senior editor at large, is one of America’s most respected business journalists. He lectures widely and is the regular lead moderator for the Fortune Global Business Forum. A frequent guest on CNBC’s Squawk Box and other TV programs, Colvin appears daily on the CBS Radio Network, reaching seven million listeners each week. He also co-anchored Wall Street Week with Fortune on PBS for three years.


Table of Contents

1	The Mystery	1
2	Talent Is Overrated	17
3	How Smart Do You Have To Be?	36
4	A Better Idea	52
5	What Deliberate Practice Is And Isn't	65
6	How Deliberate Practice Works	84
7	Applying The Principles In Our Lives	105
8	Applying The Principles In Our Organizations	126
9	Performing Great At Innovation	145
10	Great Performance In Youth And Age	167
11	Where Does The Passion Come From?	187
	Acknowledgememts	207
	Sources	209
	Index	221

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