My son had an assignment: We both had to read Malcolm Gladwell’s essay The Talent Myth that was published in The New Yorker magazine. Then we had to discuss it.
If you haven’t read the essay, the premise is this: Hiring the best and the brightest leads to disaster. (Ask the Kennedy administration — but that’s another book). Gladwell used Enron as an example. Basically they hired “the brightest” with no track records and no real oversight. And we saw what happened (think Hindenburg vs. Titanic).
Anyway, my son and I discussed the piece and then we discussed talent. I will say this: He’s a very talented young man. I was too at his age. (I even have the yearbook to prove it — Most Talented SHS — although I know of at least a dozen people in my class who were more talented. I just had a better PR agent). I looked him in the eye and said, “Talent is great. But it’s nothing without hustle.”
I’ve seen talented people go to the grave without ever using it. They were afraid to — afraid that they might be rejected. Or laughed at. Or whatever.
What a waste.
Talent’s like water. If it sits still, not much changes. But if it moves, it can carve majestic canyons. Talent is that powerful. It just has to be moving.
That’s no myth. It’s a call to action.