At seven months old, Tiger Woods was given his first golf club while most of us were still figuring out do up our shoelaces.
We love stories of child prodigies and extraordinary talent. But is getting a head start really the secret to long-term success? Or have we got the whole idea of success wrong?
In this fascinating video, David Epstein, author of Range, challenges some of our assumptions about talent, expertise and the way we learn.
Which raises a few questions.
- Are we too obsessed with specialising early? Should we encourage children to find their talent and focus on it, or give them the freedom to explore different interests?
- In a world that is changing faster than ever, who has the advantage? The specialist who knows one subject inside out, or the curious person who can connect ideas from completely different fields?
- And what about our careers? Would you rather hire someone with a perfect, focused CV or someone who has tried a bit of everything? If your own career has taken a few unexpected turns, is that really a disadvantage?
For our Watch & Talk sessions, this video is a great starting point for discussion around talent, education, career development, specialisation versus generalisation, creativity, innovation and what it really means to be successful.
Watch the video here (but it’s always more interesting to talk about it 😉):
