The Talent Code

In the book ‘The Talent Code’, Daniel Coyle shares his experience of visiting the ‘talent hotbeds’. It is a term he uses for the places which seem to produce an extraordinary amount of talent like the Spartak tennis club in Moscow that has produced more top-ranked women tennis players as compared to the whole of the United States between the years 2005 – 2007. When he visited these places, Coyle observed that people were operating on the edge of their ability while making frequent mistakes. As humans, frequent failures and mistakes frustrate us. Coyle made observations about why people in talent hotbeds were so enthusiastic about building extraordinary talent. He shared the three talent boosters that talent hot-beds use to fuel the enthusiasm of students:

Talent booster # 1: Revelatory Moment
At KIPP school, more low-income students go to college than any other school in the United States. The reason is that the kids at KIPP school begin visiting college campuses earlier than the students of other schools. They get to meet KIPP school alumni during their visits where people with a background similar to their own inspired them. Hence, such revelatory experiences in which children get to meet their heroes and find out similarities between them, help in boosting self-confidence and motivation.

Talent booster #2: Environmental Reinforcement
As humans, our motivation and ambitions can fade over time, it is only natural. Hence, we should create an environment around kids which reminds them of what is important and what is possible. We can only achieve what we strive for. We only strive for what we think is possible. If we think that we are not capable of attaining something, we are more likely to give up at a very early stage.

Talent booster #3: Primal cue to belong
One observation was that the fastest runners in history were either youngest or second youngest in their family. It is because of the primal instinct that ‘you are lagging behind, you need to catch up’. The talent hotbeds intentionally inject these primal instincts to fuel students and retain their enthusiasm.

Talent boosters help in creating an inner drive in children/students to push themselves to the edge of their abilities on a daily basis. They are intrinsically motivated to put in hours of work and training to constantly improve themselves in order to become the best.