Talent in Sport, Business, and Life

Recently, I was lucky enough to give a presentation focused on performance but managed to sneak a small focus on the topic of "talent" into the discussion.  Whether in sports or business, this word comes up a lot.  I noticed in the conference how often people were asking me about how we approach talent identification and development.  The business leader's lens was to get the right people working in their companies, my lens is to develop world-class athletes. Let me give you a snapshot of my thoughts, as the truth is, you can absolutely apply much of what I write below to your own approach in sport, business, or life.  There is plenty of cross-pollination, almost as much as the swim and bike to run performance!

Defining and Identifying Talent

Let's first think about athletes who many would immediately state as talented,  LeBron James and Michael Phelps.  Two icons in sport who are undeniably gifted. There can be little argument that both of these athletes have wonderful physiological gifts and their physical traits are perfectly suited to each of their sports.  They have a natural edge on the route to excellence in their sport, especially if we lined each of them up against Billy, a 5 ft 4-inch man with a 40-inch waist. No matter how aspirational Billy is, it is unlikely he will go on to beat either Michael or LeBron in their respective sports.  For many, this is "talent," but I don't look at it through this lens at all. Talent doesn't always look or smell the same. I would argue that the physical traits are simply the ticket into the special lottery.  Certain physical traits are important to have to be in a position to compete at the world-class level (LeBron and Michael have plenty of positive traits!), but these traits are not what has enabled either to make such an impression on their sport.  Both have achieved long-term careers of excellence and have strong characteristics that have been the gateways to success.

Common Traits of the Talented

In my years of coaching, I have seen many many highly gifted athletes through a physical lens who have never made even the smallest dents in world-class races.  Results have been random and underwhelming, and careers have been short. The "next best thing" has often never emerged, or been one-hit wonders with a random breakout and no real progression.  These athletes truly lacked what I identify as the special sauce, the real lasting talent in performance. Other athletes have come to me with solid natural physical gifts, but certainly not the kind that would make one pause or jump up and down with excitement.  Solid athletically, yes, but not a picture postcard of potential world beater. Yet these athletes have gone on to become some of the greatest athletes in our sport. They had enough "physical gift" to gain that ticket, but you would not naturally label them talented.  So what is it that makes these athletes evolve and grow into truly world-class athletes? It is a set of traits that combine to allow an optimal long-term return on their training investment. These are the traits that I identify across all great athletes I have worked with:

• North Star Mission (multi-year):  All have a strong sense of long-term thinking and a direction or path in which they want to develop.  You could say they embrace the journey but want to ensure the journey is heading in a direction toward a vision.  This is critical for success.
• Short-Term Measurable Goals:  A North Star is great, but success is anchored in short-term measurable success (often key races!).  These goals are never about getting functional threshold to XYZ.
• Passion / Mission Focused:  The North Star can only be achieved if there is an unbreakable passion for the process and the journey.  You gotta love it! That means that while tough and often full of adversity, it needs to be fun also.
• Big Picture Thinking:  Too many get caught up in myopic and short-term thinking, but the talented can rise above and see the big picture.  Always.
• Consistency:  Often driven by an approach to training and habits, but the talented understand the value in layering and long-term progression.  They make decisions and pursue consistency over big hits of excellence.
• Habit Driven:  In support with above, the best are habit driven, hence much less likely to be distracted by fringe additions, the 'latest and greatest' gadget, or some new fad diet.  They seek simplicity, not complication.
• Accountability and Feedback:  Universally, the talented thrive on a structure of accountability and feedback.  They don't just drive the ship and expect to have all the answers, they need the surrounding support despite high intrinsic motivation.
• Coachable and Team Player:  This is key. I have yet to see someone maximize potential without being highly coachable (not that the coach is always right!) and open to feedback.  Strong personalities can excel, but even these have the understanding of the value of coaching. It is also common to see traits, in differing ways, come out as a team player.
• Growth Mindset:  We could re-label this as a desire and quest for constant learning.  Failure isn't treated as a knock on potential, but a chance for growth.  The best always want to improve.
• Resilient:  An important trait as the journey to excellence is never linear and will always include adversity.  The only constant is change, and one must be resilient to the discomfort of change in the journey of development and improvement.
• Adaptable:  You can plan and set a path, but that path will always need to evolve as you execute.  Real talent is expressed when there is a non-emotional readiness to adapt and evolve based on what is happening on the journey.  The route to success is never quite what you plan for or expect, so it emerges from the need to be plastic and adapt to the new realities - whatever they are.

Collectively, these traits make up the lens through which I look at talent.  When these traits are present, you have an undeniable path to long-term success and the best opportunity to marry potential with performance.

Oh, and guess what?  These traits are exactly the same for high performers across all areas of life, be it business, life, music, anything.  This is talent. This is where the normal become heroes and have the chance to express the best version of themselves.
Some come more naturally than others, but all are completely learnable and set up to be improved.  The first is understanding the lens to look through to find success.

I hope that helps,
Matt