Talent is Overrated By Geoff Colvin What really separates world-class performers from everybody else? Business is always interested in this answer. The church should be as well. This is not a book for excuse-maker pastors. For the church which is plateaued and declining because of all the "outside forces" (excuses A-Z), the book probably is not for them. If a pastor says something like, "If only I had the right people in place" and has all the "outside forces", well... For those who like to think that talent comes at birth and just develops over time, author Geoff Colvin debunks that one quickly. In his book you will read the term "deliberate practice." Most can guess what that is. However, in our microwave church culture we tend to think we can become world-class with "some" practice and not "deliberate" practice. Not so. Just ask Tiger Woods, Jerry Rice, Jeff Immelt (GE), or Steven Ballmer (Microsoft). Colvin goes into detail on what deliberate practice is and is not. He describes how it works and the application of it to our lives. Critical for the church to understand is how to apply these principles in the church we serve. Pastors might be interested to know that Colvin writes of how smart you have to be. Further, he notes that all organizations want innovation and that few are willing to build systems to encourages that innovation and the talent that is necessarily grown to do so. The lesson for the church from this book is that talent can be developed when a culture of deliberate practice in in place. In simple terms, in any organization (and especially the church) it is all about long, hard work.