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Following is a Note from MidasNation, written by Rob Slee:
I’ve read a few books lately that argue talent is severely overrated. The very existence of talent is not, as these authors put it, supported by evidence. Even if talent exists, it probably is not as important as it’s been made out to be. In studies of accomplished individuals, researchers have found few signs of precocious achievement before the individuals started intensive training. Similar findings have turned up in studies of musicians, tennis players, artists, swimmers, mathematicians, and others. Even Mozart and Tiger Woods are described as examples of people who accomplished extraordinary things without extraordinary talent. What’s next: you don’t need brains to be smart?
OK, if talent is not the stuff of success, what is? As usual, I am swayed by Malcolm Gladwell’s argument in Outliers that practicing 10,000 hours at your craft is the most important contributor to success. This makes sense to me. Gladwell uses The Beatles and Bill Gates as exhibits.
The Beatles performed live in Hamburg, Germany over 1,200 times from 1960 to 1964, amassing more than 10,000 hours of playing time, therefore meeting the 10,000-Hour Rule. Gladwell asserts that all of the time The Beatles spent performing shaped their talent, "so by the time they returned to England from Hamburg, Germany, 'they sounded like no one else. It was the making of them.'"
Gates met the 10,000-Hour Rule when he gained access to a high school computer in 1968 at the age of 13, and spent 10,000 hours programming on it. Gates says that unique access to a computer at a time when they were not commonplace helped him succeed. Without that access, Gladwell states that Gates would still be "a highly intelligent, driven, charming person and a successful professional," but that he might not be worth US$50 billion. Gladwell explains that reaching the 10,000-Hour Rule is simply a matter of practicing a specific task that can be accomplished with 20 hours of work a week for 10 years.
Geoff Colvin, author of Talent is Overrated, also says that talent isn’t the issue — but takes the argument a step further by saying that well-designed practice is. Practice is well-designed when it’s:
- specific & technique-oriented
- paired with immediate feedback
Big performers often don’t display the most “talent” when they’re starting out. What they DO display is:
- an ever-growing base of knowledge
- powerful mental models for organizing / accessing / using that knowledge
That’s it. Don’t worry about how much talent you have for whatever-it-is you’re passionate about. Just start practicing better.
So what does all of this mean regarding our migration from tradesperson to Value Architect? First, let’s review what these terms mean.
Most (85-90%+) small business owners are tradespeople or mechanics. They learn a set of skills, and use the expert model to generate and conduct business. They are purely tactical – meaning that the owner can make a living, but not create wealth, for that requires strategic thinking and action. By definition, tactical means low leverage. Many years ago my dad, an owner of a mid-sized construction company, told me that most people learn some skills on their first job, but don’t progress much beyond that point during their career. I didn’t think this was possible. But lifetime tradespeople prove his point.
Many tradespeople owners evolve into general contractors (GC’s). This evolution is probably caused due the tradesperson getting tired of working incredible hours, with little more to show for it than a decent salary. At some point these people realize that to get ahead they need to move upstream from the purely expert model. GC’s leverage their intellectual capital enough to create a lifestyle, but usually don’t create substantial value in the business. GC’s put their fingerprints on most parts of their business, which creates a constraint on growth and value creation. This behavior is reflective of control freaks that have a hard time letting go enough to move to the ultimate value creation level.
About 5% of managers evolve into Value Architects. This group creates the structure that enables substantial value to be created in a business. Specifically, they do the following: 1) design and package a compelling value proposition for all stakeholders; 2) rationalize their company’s space chain (own their intellectual capital, and outsource non-value added process steps); 3) then choose strategies that leverage the value-added (intellectual capital) process steps; 4) they keep fingers on the pulse of the business. The actual management and implementation of the architecture is delegated to general contractors – who may or may not be employees of the firm. General contractors attract and oversee the appropriate resources to build the architecture.
Moving from a tradesperson to Value Architect involves behavior modification. In other words, all managers can learn to become Value Architects. It’s not a talent-thing, or an I.Q.-thing; rather, it’s a mentoring thing. Managers need to be mentored to this highest value creation level. And the best news: if you’ve spent at least five years working on your craft, MidasNation can mentor you to Value Architect status in just a year or two.
Interested to learn more? Join Midas Nation and register for the next webinar entitled "Negotiating the Bizzare Bazaar" for Private Business Owners(Thursday March 18th at 10 am Central)
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