Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, professor of organisational psychology at University College London and CEO of Hogan Assessment Systems, answered this question in an interesting article on the Harvard Business Review website. He submitted the following scientific facts about talent.
Small groups of talented people accomplish big things
Although there is only a handful of truly talented individuals in companies, they stand behind 80 to 98 percent of the performance of their company. They are key drivers of their companies' success. Any company would achieve higher ROI by investing in talent rather than in trying to increase the productivity of most of its average workers.
Talent can be easily measured
Research has been focusing on the identification of talent for over a hundred years. There are many reliable methods for measuring talent and predicting its further development. Companies don't have to devise any new methods for their needs.
Motivation is part of talent
Motivation is mostly regarded as a trait we can control by effort. But the reality is that motivation is half genetically determined and then shaped by one's environment in very early childhood. It is thus mainly a matter of talent. Trying to change, for example, a lazy person who lacks ambition into a hardworking and competitive individual would be very difficult.
"In short, talent matters as much or even more than people think. It is arguably more underrated than overrated. The only aspect of talent that is overrated concerns people’s evaluations of their own talents — most people are not as talented as they think, especially when they have none," Chamorro-Premuzic concludes.
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