Book Titles

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

By Geoff Colvin

Year Published: 2008
ISBN-13: 978-1-59184-224-8
Categories: Achievement, Skills, Talent

204 Quotes Found

Quote Image Quote Page Number

Talent is Overrated:

…in many creative fields the person who pursues an advanced degree has consciously chosen a path to a professorship, not to a life of innovating in that domain.

156

Talent is Overrated:

…it makes perfect sense that… those with the most years of formal schooling would be less eminent as innovators.

156

Talent is Overrated:

…innovators aren’t burdened by knowledge; they’re nourished by it.

156

Talent is Overrated:

…notable innovations in business… do not arise from nothingness; they are not even remotely unprecedented.

157

Talent is Overrated:

Innovation doesn’t reject the past; on the contrary, it relies heavily on the past and comes most readily to those who’ve mastered the domain as it exists.

157

Talent is Overrated:

…all adaptations and extensions of what exists, [are] made possible by great insights but entirely impossible without a deep knowledge of, and reliance on, past achievements.

158

Talent is Overrated:

…creative achievement is attained in the same way as other kinds of achievement.

159

Talent is Overrated:

…innovators become great in the same way that everybody else does.

160

Talent is Overrated:

…the most effective steps an organization can take to build innovation will include helping people expand and deepen their knowledge of their field.

162

Talent is Overrated:

One of the main reasons why the people in organizations don’t produce more innovation is that the culture isn’t friendly to it. New ideas aren’t really welcomed.

162