‘Bounce’ by Matthew Syed, published by Harper Collins

Syed is an unusual example of a top sportsman who has become a high class journalist with a reputation that owes nothing to his previous career; his articles in the Times have for some time shown that he thinks deeply about the way sports people perform.

The reason I have chosen this book for review is twofold; it builds on a book that was reviewed in one of last year’s blogs - The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - and even though its major focus is sport, it has clear relevance to anyone involved in talent management.

The overriding theme of the book is that the concept of ‘natural talent’ is seriously over-rated and in many cases does not exist at all. Sometimes Syed goes too far in this argument and you feel that his arguments are almost semantic; for instance he argues that black athletes do not have natural talent but are instead the beneficiaries of their specific circumstances and those of their ancestors, for instance the altitude, climate and customs of a particular region of East Africa led to the dominance of Kenyan distance runners.

This thesis could be challenged by arguing that if someone inherits physical characteristics from previous generations, that could be described as natural talent even if its original source was the unique environment in which ancestors lived. He makes a similar argument for the superiority of black sprinters which is rather less convincing and you sometimes get the impression that he is selecting evidence to support his theory, rather than presenting a range of objective information.

Nevertheless he present a powerful case for the view that natural talent is frequently overrated and is confused with opportunity and practice. He subscribes to Gladwell’s theory that you can only become world class at most skills if you have at least 10,000 hours practice; he suggests that usually ‘child prodigies’ are not naturally talented but have just been given early opportunities to practice more than their peers; then they are picked out for even more practice and greater opportunities. Though I was broadly convinced by the 10,000 argument, Syed takes it even further by implying that anyone who puts in 10,000 hours can develop high class skills; on the radio I heard him say that he could convert almost anyone into a county class tennis player with the right amount and quality of practice. This seems to me to ignore the essential need to have minimum standards of inbuilt physical characteristics (the four S’s of size, speed, strength and stamina) which can only be improved up to a certain point.

Syed’s style of writing is excellent and makes you really want to move on, starting with his fascinating description of his own career and how it was a unique set of circumstances and opportunities that made him British champion, not inbuilt talent. His argument is justified by the amazing number of people in the same area who became high class table tennis players at the same time. It is also impressive that, like Gladwell, he doesn’t confine his evidence to sport; for instance, he believes that areas where natural talent is overrated extend to chess, music and memory tests.

The question for management learning and development is how far we overestimate natural talent when appraising and developing managers. The management of talent is a topical theme and one often hears that there are ‘natural leaders’ or that some managers have a ‘flair for numbers’ or ‘intuitive business nous’. Many of us make assumptions that there are some things you cannot teach and that we should instead concentrate on what we can change.

Reading Syed’s book should at least make readers question many of these assertions though whether anyone can spare 10,000 hours to become a world class manager is open to question!