What happened to the Chinese Wayne Gretzky?
I've recently started a new job, working with some of the highest achieving students in the country. The types who have been top of every class they've ever been in, for whom an A is a bad mark and who have had a clear pathway obvious to them since starting primary school. Their ability to absorb information quickly and effectively has been a revelation after a decade or so training people more at my own level. I can provide far more content, the questions asked are more relevant (and massively more frequent), in short the job is far easier. It got me thinking about just how much actual impact we have when working with naturally talented people. Dan Micciche, an England U16 national football coach, estimates that 95% of an elite footballer is innate talent, and that the most a coach can do is try and add that extra 5% to allow them to make a career in the game. You can take super talented 8 year old kids, give them the best facilities, top class coaching and they are still ...