Chapter 9: Are You 'Talented' Enough?
Nathan Cornwell ??
Organisational Psychologist | Creating Workplace Success for Expats and International Organisations ?? ?? Increase employee performance through talent management, leadership coaching & org. development ??
What is talent, and why does it matter in shaping a purposeful career? Talent is a word we hear constantly in professional circles—praised, pursued, and often misunderstood. Is it an innate ability, a honed skill, or a spark waiting to be ignited?
Whether you see yourself as a natural-born visionary or someone finding their rhythm through practice and perseverance, this chapter will help you understand how talent is important to our careers. Let’s uncover what talent truly means for your journey.
This is Part 1 of Chapter 9: 'Talent' from of our book "Designing the Purposeful Career" co-authored with Clive Wilson and supported by lead researcher Harleen Kaur Chawla!
Talent
??????????? Ricky Gervais is a well-known icon who has graced our television screens for over a decade as a top-performing comedian. His career accolades include writing, directing and performing in blockbuster films, selling-out worldwide comedy tours and hosting the Golden Globes on multiple occasions. Whether you find his humour aligned with your own or not, you would probably agree that to achieve what he has done, takes ‘‘talent.’ However, it might surprise you to know that it wasn’t until the age of 40 that he struck gold with his first hit comedy show, “The Office.” In fact, before that, he had explored a variety of jobs and by his admission was a ‘failed’ pop star at one point. So, what do you think? Did he simply find his ‘talent’ late or was it brewing in the background the whole time? In an interview, Ricky explained that “comedy is also about experience” and that his initial success relied on building that ‘life’ experience over many years (Beard 2011.) After all, to write a comedy script about the challenges of having a boss like David Brent, you need to have experienced leadership like that in the first place. ‘Talent’ is quite an ambiguous word as we shall see in the following chapter and as Ricky’s story demonstrates it can show up at different times.
We have come a long way together in this book. You began identifying the crucial need for ‘purpose’ in a career and have begun to envision how we can begin to pursue that. You began considering how careers are structured and how they need to incorporate your character. Then, you identified how to track your career results to ensure you are heading in the right direction and equally to make time to celebrate success. In this final chapter, we take an important view of how the perception of ‘talent’ is key to ensuring we land the opportunities to make this all happen!
Talent is in the Eye of the Beholder
??????????? We can all relate to being that ‘couch commentator.’ Sitting with a packet of crisps on the sofa whilst watching football or Britain's Got Talent and prescribing in a rather Ceaser-like fashion on who ‘has’ or ‘has not’ got talent. This black-and-white view often provides us with an ‘intuitive’ sense of what ‘talent’ is - especially in those universal human skills like singing - Simon Cowell made his own career from this intuition.
??????????? There are often vast differences of opinion when it comes to deciding on whether an individual has ‘talent’ or not. This is largely because it is a subjective concept. We argue that ‘talent’ presides in the ‘eye of the beholder.’ Is Dynamo the magician talented or not? Well, it depends on who the judge is. A little like boxing or Strictly Got Talent, two judges can rate someone completely differently. Which can often cause suprise.
When it comes to the career ‘dance floor,’ there are two key stakeholders that have eyes on our talent:
Employers: Ultimately, we are selected for employment, hopefully based on our ‘talent’ (or future talent) by our boss. Often, this is interpreted by how our CV is presented and how we show up in interviews or at assessment centres. There is limited time to showcase what we have got - which can often feel unfair. Yet, this is simply part of the selection process.
Ourselves: Our own view of our talent is subjective too. How this perception of ourselves presents itself is hugely important yet can often be completely different to reality. You will likely recall those singers on X-Factor who are determined they can sing, despite breaking a lot of mirrors in the process. Alternatively, Imposter Syndrome is a lack of belief that our talent will meet the expectations of others and that we will soon be evicted from that setting, whether that’s work, a sports team or another setting.
Self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977) relates to these differing perceptions of ourselves by suggesting that those positive and negative beliefs in the ability to do something will impact performance. Therefore, a level of confidence in your ‘talent’ can provide positive outcomes for our careers. Duggal et al (2003) describe the concept of Self-Perceived Employability which is the belief that we are easily employable based on internal (e.g. perceptions of our skills) and external aspects (e.g. employers demands for those skills). ‘Talent’ is therefore a matter of opinion but one that we want employers and ourselves to look favourably upon.
The War for Talent
There are those who still believe last century’s belief that we are in the midst of a war. It might sound a little damning and other views are now more commonplace.? However, even? ‘wars’ present both challenges and opportunities. A running theme through this book is that the global economy is changing at a rapid pace and with it are the demands of businesses to survive and thrive. For humans to keep up with the constant change can be a tough ask which creates a skills shortage and the conditions for a fight to ensue.
The so-called “the war for talent” was popularised by a McKinsey research paper that suggested an ever-shrinking human talent pool for businesses to hire from (McKinsey, 1998). Technology and globalisation have strongly influenced how the world has evolved. Further factors such as the high proportions of workers retiring and with this, the loss of high amounts of experience and knowledge. The ability to hire from across borders allows for a wider net to be cast.? However, that also means there are many more companies willing to poach a company’s own staff too.
This section paints a dim picture of the world economy but of course, there is a silver lining. For example, it is the first time in history, that technology has enabled masses of people to work ‘remotely’ across the world. Careers themselves have become ‘boundaryless’ meaning that we can push and pull what we do in different directions. The greater need for ‘talent’ means that it has become easier to find development opportunities. And, companies recognise that human capital is at the forefront of their success - so they need you! Collectively, this has enabled us to create jobs that were never even possible just a few years ago. However, in order to land opportunities to we need to make sure we stand out in the crowd!
About the Authors and Researchers
This book is co-authored by Nathan Cornwell and Clive Wilson.? Nathan is an employability specialist and organisational psychologist and recently founded Nathan Cornwell Consulting who support expats with their careers and the companies that employ them. Clive is a speaker, published author and coach and has specialised in Purposeful Leadership for over twenty years. They connected during the global pandemic and committed to working together on this publication, releasing it chapter by chapter on Linked In and ultimately as a complete work to be available towards the end of 2024.? We hope you will enjoy, comment and share these thoughts in the interests career enhancement for purposeful leaders in any and every context, from those beginning their career journeys to those determining new careers, even into retirement.
Recently, Harleen Kaur Chawla joined the team as a researcher. She holds a Master's degree in Work and Organisational Psychology and is deeply committed to creating a positive organisational culture and enhancing the overall employee experience. It's a pleasure to have her on board.
Links to other chapters of the book can be found here or on the profile page:
References
Bandura, A (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change. Psychological Review. 84 (2): 191–215.
Beard, A. (2011) Life’s Work: Ricky Gervais. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on: https://hbr.org/2011/04/lifes-work-ricky-gervais
Duggal, H. K., Lim, W. M., Khatri, P., Thomas, A., & Shiva, A. (2024). The state of the art on self-perceived employability. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 43, 88–110. https://doi.org/10.1002/joe.22245
McKinsey (1998) The War for Talent. McKinsey Quarterly 3(3):44-57