An Excerpt from The Five Talents That Really Matter

The leadership space is rife with myths, such as the belief that anyone can be a leader with enough effort or that a leader's strengths can be their greatest weaknesses. According to Barry Conchie and his business partner Sarah Dalton, these statements are complete BS. The Five Talents That Really Matter dispels the fluff in leadership literature, unveiling the traits and characteristics that truly determine high-performance leadership.
 
The Five Talents That Really Matter serves as a guide, stripping away misconceptions and providing a template against which career-driven managers and leaders can assess and develop their capabilities. 

Through meticulous research, assessment, and testing, Conchie and Dalton have built a database that predicts the talents and behaviors of the most successful leaders.  In this book they present for the first the first time a scientific model that demystifies the aura and complexity surrounding high performing leaders. 

The following excerpt is from Chapter One of the book, "What People and Companies Get Wrong About Leadership."

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INDICATORS OF NATURAL TALENT 

Why are some people just so good at something? Why do you gravitate toward some tasks over others? Talent tends to be the arbiter of these situations. Lurking in our subconscious, our predispositions guide us to make decisions that allow our Talents to shine. Hardly anyone wakes up on a particular morning and decides that they are going to be a genius in an area that is challenging for them. People tend to be averse to activities in which they struggle, and no amount of effort or training seems to make a difference. Public speaking is an excellent example. The mere thought of standing in front of a large group causes panic in many people. It is often stated that the three greatest stresses in life are the death of a loved one, divorce or separation, and giving presentations. By way of contrast, outstanding public speakers can’t wait to get on stage. 

If you look closely, there are clues that will indicate the natural Talents that make each person unique. These talents represent their greatest development opportunities. 

Flow 

Anxiety and other negative emotions concerning an activity are a great indicator that someone likely does not have Talent in that area. Conversely, strong positive emotions when thinking about or performing an activity are a rudimentary measure of underlying Talent. In Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mike Csikszentmihalyi posited that people are happiest when they are in a state of Flow, a state of concentration or complete absorption in the activity at hand. This state is felt by the individual and observed by others as “being in the zone.” Csikszentmihalyi described Flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, moment, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you are using your skills to the utmost.”13 One of his key observations is that there must be an effective balance between a person’s Talents and the specific demands of the situation. If these are out of balance, Flow cannot occur. Talent and expectation must match at a high level. If the task expectation matches, but at too low a level, the result is apathy, and otherwise Talented people end up going through the motions even if the activity suits their predispositions. 

Tasks that seem to be beyond the capabilities of others are achieved by some with minimal effort. These individuals exhibit phenomenal levels of concentration and application. Our conversations and interviews with high-performing leaders reveal that all have experienced this state of Flow, some more regularly than others. On occasion, these leaders can predict when a state of Flow is likely to happen by reviewing the nature of the tasks ahead of them. They describe such a sense of connection to an activity that they might fail to hear a phone ring or notice that someone is at their office door. When such signs are observable in others, it could well be an indicator of underlying Talent. Try to find out exactly what the person was doing when they experienced this feeling of Flow—this might be where one of their natural talents and capabilities lie. 

Choice 

Similarly, observing what a person chooses to do when they are not constrained by other requirements can indicate Talent. Given free choice, people tend not to do things they dislike or to perform activities in areas where they consistently struggle. Something surprising, as many people take too long to discover, is that some people love doing the things that you dislike. They can’t get enough of them. We’ve met leaders who hated completing expense reports, only to discover an admin support person who loved this and who derived a significant sense of achievement from submitting these reports accurately and on time. The very best outcomes are achieved in situations where an assigned activity is completely aligned with a person’s unconstrained choices. This leads to the very best application of a person’s Talents in practice. 

Ease of Learning 

Some people seem to be able to learn difficult things with extraordinary ease. We tend to notice this more in areas where we personally struggle. Their achievements seem to stand out in contrast. Areas of rapid learning can be quite diverse.  

We’ve worked alongside leaders who pick up foreign languages for fun and who can credibly hold significant business discussions in those new languages. The speed and ease with which they learn is beyond the reach of many. Regardless of the activity, being able to quickly adapt to new knowledge and skills can indicate an underlying Talent in that area. 

Excellence in Doing 

Think of occasions when you have felt frustrated because someone told you how to do something that you had already figured out. Maybe you could already perform this task to a higher degree than the person interjecting. This may be a clue to discovering your natural Talents. Talk to female leaders who feel this frustration at having to listen to explanations from their male colleagues, and you’ll begin to understand where the term “mansplaining” originated. 

A person with natural Talent in a specific area will tend to perform in the top echelon compared to the general population. Excellence, by definition, is attainable by only a few. If an individual consistently measures as a top performer in an activity, they are likely demonstrating their natural Talent. Consistency is important because top performance can be influenced by limitless external factors. Over multiple iterations, the likelihood of results being driven by chance decreases, and Talent emerges as the key contributor to success. 

Excellence shouldn’t be reserved only for those with extensive track records.  

Additionally, excellence is not always measurable. Sometimes the sign of excellence is a glimpse of a very specific thing that is special, extraordinary, but usually fleeting. It can manifest as the potential a person might be indicating, something that captures our attention and makes us wonder “Is something there?” A younger emerging leader who shows promise could give us one of these glimpses.  

They might be showing Talent in its nascent stages of development. Being alert to different means through which excellence manifests enables us to be clear about the type of Talent we are identifying. 

If such a glimpse is a true indicator of Talent, that reality will emerge. A person will seek out and repeat the activities that provide the satisfaction they receive from achieving something through their innate Talents. Individuals who consistently engage in and enjoy a specific activity are likely continuing to do so because their Talents allow them to succeed with ease. 

What kind of work do you gravitate toward? What are you the quickest at learning? What are you consistently the best at? What can you do such that hours pass in minutes? Using these basic tests, you can start understanding what your Talents might be. The next question you might ask is “What do I do with my Talents?” 

Excerpt from THE FIVE TALENTS THAT REALLY MATTER: How Great Leaders Drive Extraordinary Performance by Barry Conchie and Sarah Dalton. Copyright © 2024. Available from Hachette Go, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.