Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.9
EAN: 9781591842248
Edition: 1
ISBN: 1591842247
Label: Portfolio Hardcover
Manufacturer: Portfolio Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: October 16, 2008
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Studio: Portfolio Hardcover

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
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.




Rating: - Recommendation from Amazon
Excellent book!!! It was a recommendation of your site while i was buying another one on the same subject, but from a different author!!! Your advise was very well done!!!

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Rating: - I Guess It Depends on How One Defines "Talent"
In "Talent is Overrated" Mr. Colvin makes a case for success by reviewing what it is that makes high achievers do what they do. His argument is that innate ability is not really innate, but rather that a rare combination of factors may create the "winning" formula. Most of these factors have to do with circumstance. For instance, Tiger Woods had a father who started him on the golf course at a very young age and was able to coach him in a way that helped him achieve. The other components in Mr. ... Read More

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Rating: - Practicing deliberate simplification
This book tackles a fascinating question that challenges top academic psychologists. Interestingly, it was written by a business magazine editor. This explains why we are treated to recurrent musings on how to produce "greatness" in business managers. Personally, I find it unhelpful and offensive to compare the skills of corporate CEOs to Picasso or Tiger Woods. The author himself admits running a business is not necessarily rocket science, and anyone who doubts the role of cronyism as opposed to skill ... Read More

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Rating: - This book is somewhat overrated
The author's hypothesis is that talent is overrated. Things such as IQ and other innate abilities matters relatively little compared to deliberate and efficient practice and learning.

Have you known people who aced that tough calculus exam with only one hour of study?

The author says it is all about deliberate practice and not talent.

Gauss, one of the greatest mathematicians ever, was born to peasant parents with no formal, math or otherwise, education of their own. ... Read More

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Rating: - Great Performance: Both Exacting and Exhilarating
Geoff Colvin goes to great lengths to demonstrate that neither hard work nor inspiration provides a satisfactory explanation to why a few people are so talented and excellent at what they do (pp. 4-5, 20-23).

Colvin convincingly shows his audience that there is no free lunch behind great performance. Great performance results from deliberate practice which is hard to sustain over time (pp. 7, 66, 72, 171, 181). Many years of intense preparation are needed before making any kind of (creative) ... Read More

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