The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How. [Hardcover]

In recent years, there have been several books and even more articles written in response to research conducted by Anders Ericsson in these subject areas: the structure and acquisition of expert performance, experts' ability to expand working memory and access to long-term memory with training, and use of Protocol analysis as a rigorous methodology for eliciting verbal reports of thought sequences as a valid source of data on thinking. These books include Geoff Colvin's Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else and Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success. In The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle gratefully acknowledges the importance of Ericsson's research, agreeing with Colvin and Gladwell that greatness isn't born; rather, it is developed by a combination of luck (i.e. being "given" opportunities); ignition (i.e. self-motivation activated by one or more "primal cues"), what Coyle calls "deep practice"(i.e. 10, 000 hours of focused and disciplined repetition, requiring an energetic and passionate commitment), and master coaching provided by "talent whisperers" who "possess vast, deep frameworks of knowledge, which they apply to the steady, incremental work of growing skill circuits, which they ultimately don't control."

At one point is his narrative (Page 72), Coyle declares, "We are myelin beings." OK, but so what? When tapping into a neurological mechanism in which certain patterns of targeted practice builds skills, we create entry to "a zone of accelerated learning that, while it can't quite be bottled, can be accessed by those who know how. In short, they're cracked the talent code." What about myelin? According to Dr. George Bartzokis, professor of neurology at U.C.L.A., it is "the key to talking, reading, learning skills, being human." It is a neural insulator that, Coyle claims, some neurologists now consider to be "the holy grail" of skill acquisition because every human skill "is created by chains of nerve fibers carrying a tiny electrical impulse - basically a signal traveling through a circuit. Myelin's vital role is to wrap those nerve fibers the same way that rubber insulation wraps a copper wire, making the signal stronger and faster by preventing the electrical impulses from leaking out. When we fire our circuits in the right way - when we practice swinging that bat or playing that note - our myelin responds by wrapping layers around the that neural circuit, each new layer adding a bit more skill and speed. The thicker the myelin gets, the better it insulates, and the faster and more accurate our movements and thoughts become." Better yet, "we are all born with the opportunity to become, as Mr. Myelin [viewed as broadband] likes to put it, lords of our own Internet. The trick is to figure out how to do that."

As Coyle's uncommonly detailed "Notes on Sources" on Pages 223-232 indicate, he consulted the results of dozens of different surveys. Moreover, he seems to have read almost all available books and articles in which those who conducted the research share their insights. It should be noted that he also traveled extensively, conducted dozens of interviews, and engaged in hundreds of on-site conversations, thereby supplementing others' research data with his own first-hand observations. For example, he visited inner-city schools involved in the Knowledge Is Power Program (aka KIPP) and spoke at length with the program's co-founders, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin. When the program was launched, most of the students ranked far below average and only 53% of them passed the state English and math tests. At the end of the first year, 90% of them passed.

Coyle provides a rigorous and thorough analysis of KIPP in Chapter 7. Here is a brief excerpt: "One way to look at KIPP is as a unique tale of goodhearted underdogs who caught lightning in a bottle. If that were all it was, our interest in the story would end now. The other way to look at it, however, is an example of pure ignition: the art and science of creating a talent hotbed [in each school, in each class, and in each student's mind] from the ground up, without the assistance of a World Series homer or another magical breakthrough. That's why it's useful to look under this remarkable jalopy to see what makes it go." No gimmicks and no shortcuts. Currently, there are 66 KIPP public schools in 19 states and the District of Columbia enrolling more than 16,000 students. Across the KIPP network, 65 of the existing 66 schools are charter schools. The majority of KIPP schools (more than 85 percent) are middle schools designed to serve fifth through eighth grade students. The remaining schools include seven high schools, six pre-kindergarten/elementary schools, and one pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school.

As Coyle suggests, "it's time to rewrite the maxim that practice makes perfect. The truth is, practice makes myelin, and myelin makes perfect. And myerlin operates by a few fundamental principles" that explain where extraordinary talent (defined as "the possession of repeatable skills that don't depend on physical size") comes from and how it can be developed. Although it is possible to "overlay research such as Ericsson's with the new myelin science to formulate a universal theory of skill" (i.e. deep practice X 10,000 hours = world-class skill), it is important to keep in mind that "the truth is more complicated than that." I am grateful to Daniel Coyle for providing such an entertaining as well as informative book, that that has increased substantially my understanding of how to "grow" talent. His is a brilliant achievement.

Loved the book! It was a quick, easy read with useful, usable information that is directly applicable to my life. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in seeing how skill development really works, and how to develop skills in yourself and others. There is no quick-fix here - more of a "light at the end of a long dark tunnel" scenario, but there is definitely a light!

According to some modern authorities in the field of neurology, people's abilities are not necessarily predetermined by genetic capacity. Other factors such as neurological wiring, cognitive practice, and effective coaching would seem to take precedence over the mysteries of the human gene. Behind this research is the very credible theory that myelin, the waxy substance that coats our nerve fibres and insures a strong and accurate signal, is a phenomenon that is grown and not simply acquired. Based on credible research coming out of the UCLA Department of Neurology, Coyle has written a challenging little book on how talent or exceptional skills can be discovered and nurtured in any individual if the right environmental pieces of the puzzle are in place to encourage the development of myelin. The code for him consists of developing learning environments where natural talents flourish through employing methods such as deep practice, chunking, and ignition processing. Coyle's work underscores the need for effective mentoring and coaching to be always accessible for grooming the individual talents as they emerge from their various social cocoons. He points out that ideal coaches and teachers like John Wooden and countless numbers of parents and laypeople should have the ability to foster a stronger commitment to practice that encourages the individual to develop those skills that take him or her to the next level of excellence. There is one significant social aspect that Coyle's otherwise very inspirational study of highly motivational ideas does not seem to address: what about the many underachieving people out there who will not answer the bell when it comes to developing their God-given abilities? Somehow, neurological impairment or social privations have overwhelmed these lives to the point where success is seemingly impossible. Is the answer to this problem found in the final chapter that Coyle devotes to defining the qualities of a new generation of teachers and parents who are ready to spot talent, encourage it, and reward it when it happens. As someone who is going through the aging process, I draw great encouragement from this book. Intellectual pursuits, according to the research, should keep my myelin intact longer and my mental faculties sound for years to come if my body doesn't succumb to disease.