Out-li-er noun
1. something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body.
2. a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that we usually look at talent the wrong way. We focus on looking at the qualities of the person. Intelligence, speed, strength, giftedness, etc… Instead, we should be asking about where they came from and how they got to that high level. Gladwell proposes that the ingredients for high level success in business, arts, music, health and sports, is more nurture than nature.
While there is little hard science, through the book he gives anecdotal examples several factors beyond the traditional ideas of “talent” and how they lead to these outliers developing. He proposes it’s a combination of luck, early success, enough talent, and opportunity to engage in the intense and 10,000 of practice to master skills.
Relative Age in Sports
A key premise of the book is that talent needs an opportunity to flourish. This opportunity is unfortunately often a stroke of luck, or may not be available to all because of society norms or economics. One example of this is relative age and he uses Canadian hockey as an example.
When you examine hockey in Canada from the pros through juniors and the earliest youth all star squads a clear and surprising pattern emerges. Those players born right after the age cut-off date are more common. Because Canada’s eligibility cutoff for junior hockey is January 1, Gladwell writes, “a boy who turns 10 on January 2, then, could be playing alongside someone who doesn’t turn 10 until the end of the year.”
So the players born in Jan, Feb and March make it to higher levels far more often.
These are the very players who may be 6 months to almost a year older than those they are playing against. At these early ages, that can be a huge advantage, so they appear to be “better” or “more talented”. So what happens? They get told “you’ve just got natural talent”, “you really have a knack for hockey” and so on. They also get picked for the all-star teams.
They are told they are good so they start believing it. Then they get picked for all star teams and get to play more, maybe with better coaches, and against better players. This keeps building year after year and becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
They may end up better not because they have more talent, but because they had more opportunity to develop the talent they had. This same pattern has been seen in baseball and soccer. It’s even been documented in schools’ gifted programs.
Relative age is a stroke of luck that leads to an opportunity to get better and develop existing talent.
10,000 Hours
Relative age can give someone a better opportunity to achieve the next element needed and that’s 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice takes focus
The 10,000 hour rule was proposed years ago by Anders Erickson. It has some strong support across many domains. In recent years the concept has been picked up by several authors and the main stream.
Gladwell notes that musical geniuses such as Mozart, and chess grandmasters, achieve their status after about 10 years. 10 years is approximately how long it takes to get in 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. According to Outliers, the 10,000 hour or 10 year rule, explains how Bill Gates and the Beatles succeeded for basically the same reason.
In the sports examples, early selection to elite and all star teams helps young athletes get that 10,000 hours sooner. Gladwell’s Outliers would be in strong support of Thomas Edison’s quote that “Success is 2% inspiration, and 98% perspiration.”
Is Hard Work and Opportunity Enough?
This book and ones like The Talent Code and Talent is Overrated present the idea that hard work and other factors may be more important than talent. In some ways they may even question whether talent, in our traditional thought of it, even exists.
Can anyone set a world record?
You can train all you want and do everything perfectly physically, mentally and so forth to try and win the Gold medal in the 100m at the Olympics. Without the right amount of fast-twitch fibers, muscle structure and physiology, it won’t happen. You will get faster, maybe even really good and fulfill all of your genetic potential, but there is a limit.
We see certain levels of physical qualities needed for certain sports and positions. If you are a 4’ 11” female you can do just about anything you want to, but won’t make it as an NFL offensive lineman. There is a minimum amount of some qualities needed.
Gladwell acknowledges this and also presents the idea of a “threshold” of talent needed. This means they need enough of the ability in movement, cognitive processing, strength, size, and/or other qualities to perform, but not necessarily the highest amount of them.
As a coach who has worked with thousands of athletes, I’ve seen a lot of people that had talent, but didn’t put the work in and failed. On the other hand I’ve seen many athletes who had enough talent and achieved success through hard work and focus.
Outliers’ Lessons for Coaches
Outliers is one of several popular books in recent years spreading the message of a new view of “talent” and what it is. It takes more than talent to achieve high levels of success. There are some important messages here for coaches. Those messages are both in what to do to achieve success, and also what can thwart it.
Practical take-aways for coaches
Hard work counts. The idea that it requires 10,000 hours of consistent, deliberate engaging practice to master a skill speaks to coaches. This is why you have to get in practice and get work done. What coach doesn’t like that idea and popular books backing up the idea that hard work counts. If you want to get better, you have to work at it.
As coaches and mentors we need to help those talented young athletes get this idea. “You won’t get there on talent alone!” They need to learn early that it will take practice. Practicing all the skills needed and building the habit of focusing and working on a specific goal.
(there’s some huge negative implications of the 10,000 hour rule as well – future article)
Athletes need an opportunity to develop talent. If it really takes more than just natural talent, an athlete can’t just spring out of nowhere. They need the opportunity to discover it and then foster it. Throughout the book this is shown across disciplines and education.
First of this means if young athletes aren’t exposed to different sports, they may not find the one they have talent at. This support the idea that they need to try a bunch of sports at the younger ages. Even if they have the needed threshold of talent to be a great tennis player, if they never pick up a racket until age 20, they likely won’t have time or opportunity to get in the 10 years in the environment they need to.
Our all star and travel youth sports are becoming dominated by a “pay to play” system. If you can’t afford it, you won’t get to play on those teams that give you the better coaches, better competition and future opportunity to play. How can we actually give talented athletes from poor economic backgrounds a chance to play?
Be careful how you pick talent. I think so many more coaches (sport and performance) as well as parents, need to understand the concept of relative age. It is one of the best messages we could get across in support of a better long term athletic development model and sanity in youth sports.
Look for actual talent in a sport, not just success. Talent here meaning some level of physical ability, but also an enjoyment of it, the thinking and understanding of the game, and the emotional make-up to be successful.
It also means we need to be careful when we exclude some “lack of talent” early on. Are we really that good at identifying who has it? The evidence from many sports says no. We have usually picked the older, and probably more physically developed kids.
How many amazing talents have been left behind that would have thrilled the sporting world. How many champions from smaller Olympic sports have been missed because there was no opportunity for talent to flourish?
Build Your Talent Theory
As coaches an inherent part of what we do involves the concept of talent. Having a clear theory on what it is and how it contributes to high level performance is critical. Not only do we need this idea for ourselves, but also to communicate to other the coaches, athletes and parents we work with.
