Skill or Talent?

FABLES FOR OUR GRANDCHILDREN
READING TIME: 1 MINUTE

Which is more important - skill or talent? 

It’s a perennial question whose answer seems more about autobiography than truth. 

If you’re the boss, you’re prone to wave the flag of talent, imagining you were anointed at birth with leadership genes, therefore deserve more power, money, and status.

If you’re the bossed, you likely sing the chants of skill, knowing anyone can learn to do that idiot’s job, which he wouldn’t even have except for his connections and a rigged game. 

And then there’s the truth. 

Talent is indeed a critical success factor for NFL quarterbacks, concert violinists, and a host of top tier performers who are admired and lauded for generations. But it’s not germane to most of life. Skills can indeed be learned and mastered in every area. It really doesn’t matter if you have talent except at the very, very top of the game. So don’t let lack of talent stop you from doing anything. Skill trumps talent in all but the rarest of cases.

I love you,
Granny

---