Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect November 2006
Fortune Magazine believes it has discovered the secret to greatness. The November issue of Fortune focuses almost entirely on excellence and their key article, “What it takes to be great” claims that there’s only one thing separating great individuals from the rest of us: demanding practice and hard work. They have some interesting ideas that initiate discussion, but we say there’s more to greatness than “demanding practice.”
Author Geoffrey Colvin, Fortune senior editor-at-large, begins by disputing the notion that great people are “preordained” or “destined” to greatness because of some innate quality. He cites a British study by Howe, Davidson, and Sluboda to assert this. We respectfully agree and disagree.
We agree because everyone benefits when the “innate skills” concept is eliminated or minimized. Without that limiting concept, we can believe that each of us can achieve some level of greatness. We also note that just because one was born with a gift does not mean you will use it.
But we also cannot entirely reject the concept of innate gifts. Research and data in Now, Discover Your Strengths by Clifton and Buckingham, among other studies, indicate that we have “talents” that enable us to do some things more easily than others. We have natural abilities that if cultivated will allow us to develop more easily if we focus on them.
We do agree with Colvin that nothing happens without hard work. No matter our natural talent, if we don’t develop, practice, and hone that gift, we will never achieve greatness. To surpass others we do, it seems, have to “practice, practice, practice.” And yet many of us have practiced diligently, only to develop incrementally. We never seem to take the leaps that would land us into the realm of greatness.
Here’s where Colvin’s article offers something powerful and applicable: Florida State University professor K. Ericsson’s studies of individuals who have achieved greatness in their field. What Ericsson discovered is that “deliberate practice” makes perfect. Colvin defines deliberate practice as “activity that’s explicitly intended to improve performance, that reaches for objectives just beyond one’s level of competence, provides feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition.”
Any pursuit involves repeatable behaviors. By isolating those behaviors that lead to success, getting feedback about how we engage in them, and using that feedback to practice on a daily basis can make it possible for anyone to become great.
So, why don’t we do it? Again, we have to agree with Colvin: it’s too much hard work. For most of us it’s difficult enough to get through the day without adding feedback and repeated practice. This is essentially what separates great individuals from the rest of us; they are motivated to continue practicing. But no one has been able to figure out why some people are driven to deliberate practice. Maybe that’s the innate piece Colvin does not believe in.
Either way, there is some comfort and some challenge. None of us can relax behind the notion that since we weren’t born with some great gift we can never become great. We can. The comfort is the fact that with deliberate practice any of us can achieve greatness. The challenge is to practice deliberate practice day after day.
The Greatness ProjectTM is researched and written by:
Scott Asalone & Jan Sparrow
Copyright © ASGMC, Inc. 2006