The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How.
by Daniel Coyle
Related videos
4:04
Author explains talent development in talking-head format
143K
713
Mar, 2009
Spoiler:
After visiting nine “talent hotbeds” around the world, the author concluded that talent is not born but rather is grown. He says that all skill is located inside our brains and that doing “deep practice” can increase our skill level exponentially. One element of deep practice is practicing very slowly; for example, the music school that produced Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman has an informal rule that if a passerby can recognize a song, the students are playing it too fast.
17:56
Author explains the secrets to talent in TEDx format
88K
906
Aug, 2012
Spoiler:
Using humor and audience participation to demonstrate how the brain works and how skills are developed, the author explains that what we call “talent” can be boiled down to the myelin sheaths around neurons. Once thought to be inert, the myelin sheath actually increases in thickness when we reach, make a mistake, correct ourselves, and then do the task better. The author says an unmyelinated neuron fires at about two miles an hour and a very myelinated neuron at 200 mph.
6:31
Key points of the book explained in animated format
43K
2K
Jul, 2018
Spoiler:
The author traveled the world investigating “talent hotbeds” (such as Brazil for soccer) and finding the common threads between them. He learned that the best way to develop a skill is an intense form of deliberate, deep practice (such as musicians playing a song so slowly it can’t be recognized) that can be sustained only 3 to 5 hours a day. He also found that “master coaches” speak very little or are silent, and praise only when it’s earned.
90:43
Live performances plus author presentation with slides
28K
236
May, 2014
Spoiler:
The video features live performances by young people with very different talents: a cellist, two weightlifters, and a group of actors, for example. The author then discusses what it takes to get to such a high level in your target skill. He insists that there is no such thing as “muscle memory,” a term that is tossed around in any kind of learning, but that every skill is learned in the brain, which then in turn controls the muscles.
Follow the author
Daniel Coyle, a New York Times bestselling author from St. Louis, Missouri, advises high-performing organizations such as the Navy SEALs, Microsoft, Google, and the Cleveland Guardians. He is a contributing editor for Outside Magazine and a special advisor to the Cleveland Guardians. Coyle won the 2012 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Prize (with Hamilton).
Other books by Daniel Coyle
Publications
New Scientist: What is the secret to acquiring talent?
MeaningfulHQ: Daniel Coyle : The Talent Code (audio interview)
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