Experience trumps talent

Watching today's NFL Wild Card games I was again reminded of my sole, fundamental belief in the human condition: talent is bullshit. Crude yet succinct, no? Early in the Green Bay vs. Arizona game the Packers young QB Aaron Rodgers threw multiple interceptions, looking every bit the second year starter. Meanwhile, the Cardinals' 38-year old, veteran QB Kurt Warner was methodically shredding the Packer's number two-rated defense. Rodgers had youth on his side and his abilities were clearly exceptional but Warner's experience ruled the day - and that counts for everything in sports - oh, and staying healthy doesn't hurt either.

Interestingly, when Rodgers was selected by Green Bay in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft he was notably intended to succeed superstar Bret Favre, who was himself was plagued by erratic play early in his career, including 6 interceptions in a Wild Card game vs. a Kurt Warner led St. Louis Rams team back in 1993. But here's a key contrast, Rodgers spent his first few years riding the pine on the sidelines waiting for Favre's retirement while Warner, who wasn't even drafted by the NFL, initially found work in the lesser Arena Football League. While Rodgers managed a clipboard during his first few seasons Warner started right away for the AFL's Iowa Barnstormers and eventually took his teams to the championship game two years in a row; this early AFL experience gave Warner an edge over higher profile NFL draft picks whose lesser experience allowed Warner to enjoy immediate success.

Experience isn't everything, however.

I contend that hard work and execution are every bit as important as experience. Talent, if there truly is such a thing, is a byproduct of years hard work and experience. I've held this belief for most of my adult life, though until recently I didn't have a scientific or informed basis to justify this philosophy, it just seemed logical to me.

"He's just so talented" is a common refrain I've heard over and over again throughout my lifetime to describe the excellence of great athletes like Michael Jordan or the effortless performances of legendary actors like Clint Eastwood - but why are they great? Is it fairy Dust? Good genes? How does Tom Brady, a sixth round draft pick, win three Super Bowls before he's thirty while Heisman winners like Eric Crouch end up as little more than trivia questions?

Crucial clues (if not outright answers) can be found in Malcolm Gladwell's excellent book "Outliers". Through a wealth of case studies Gladwell asserts that the successes of people like Bill Gates, top NHL players and Nobel Laureates are predicated upon a combination of timing (aka luck), family connections and simple hard work rather than destiny or fate. Gladwell also disproves the widely held notion that IQ and raw ability alone are deciding factors in individual success - however, if you are fortunate enough to have your IQ and raw ability recognized at an early age and you'll most likely have access to additional education and/or training, which are critical in order to get the kind of coaching necessary to develop critical skills that set you apart from others in your age or peer groups.

In my own professional life I've never been accused of having any particular talents (except by good old Mom, of course). While I haven't reached the heights of notoriety or income of pro athletes or hollywood stars I have done better than most. But why? My early years were unremarkable, I was a decent but unexceptional student in high school and I chose to bypass a traditional college education to enlist in the Army. After my discharge I stumbled around for several years, started and failed a small business then pursued several dismal jobs in retail before catching a break at the dawn of the Internet boom in the mid-1990's.

Gladwell writes that Bill Gates was the fortunate beneficiary of being born at just the right time in just the right place, which allowed him unparalleled access to mainframe computers and the opportunity to learn computer programming, which few of his peers to could hope to achieve - a huge headstart. I've always been an avid video game and PC gaming fan, it was a hobby more than a career option, initially. Like many in 1994 I got hooked on AOL and Compuserve; I saw this new technology rapidly expanding, I had access to a computer so I taught myself web development. At about the same time video gaming companies were beginning to appreciate the potential for Internet marketing and online gaming. Pursuing my interest in PC games I happened to see an opening for a web development job on a favorite game company's web site, so I took a chance and accepted a web development job at a subsidiary of Electronic Arts in Austin, Texas. It was the perfect convergence of technology, luck and ability; I would triple my salary in just the next few years - but timing and skills alone wouldn't have been enough for the success I've found over the last fifteen years since that first job opportunity in Texas.

I believe the extra, final component in my fortunate story is my strong work ethic, which I inherited from my parents. I've always been willing to be the first to arrive and the last to leave. I was just driven to work harder than everyone else. At the time I figured, I'm not as smart or connected as everybody else, but I can make up for that by working that much harder than anyone else was willing.

Also, as a kid I read a lot. A LOT. Every night in bed I'd stay up for hours reading Stephen King, Isaac Asimov and Elmore Leonard. We didn't have cable and video games were in their infancy, primitive by today's standards, so I had a lot of time on my hands. I wasn't terribly athletic either. So I read, probably a lot more than most kids my age and I also wrote short stories (badly). As a result, I had a deep vocabulary and good writing skills.

Combine a diverse employment background, a solid work ethic, my love of PC games, my newly developed Internet skills, the shift towards online gaming and an ability to speak and write effectively gave me an edge over a lot of others my own age with better educations and lesser experience.

So I may not be able to throw a 50-yard bomb or perform on Broadway but I can certainly apply some unique, hard-fought skills on the back of a diverse set of experiences that few others in my field can match. That, my friend, beats the shit out of "talent" any day of the week!