Talent is defined by Dictionary.com as a special natural ability or aptitude. It would seem to me that the word talent is misapplied when discussing most skills or tasks associated with a typical workplace setting. Does talent make one accountant or stock broker more productive than another? Can it really be said that being a successful executive requires a special natural ability or aptitude? Certainly, such positions require a great deal of knowledge, skill, and social acumen, but I would argue that humans are not born with innate abilities to succeed in traditional workplace settings. A recent interview in the Final Word section of Fast Company with K. Anders Ericsson addresses the concept of talent in the workplace and whether it is a defining characteristic of highly successful professionals.

There are two pieces of the brief interview that I think make fascinating points about talent and success in the workplace:

Is talent overrated?

“The traditional assumption is that people come into a professional domain, have similar experiences, and the only thing that’s different is their innate abilities. There’s little evidence to support this. With the exception of some sports, no characteristic of the brain or body constrains an individual from reaching an expert level.”

What do you have to do to become the best?

“Successful people spontaneously do things differently from those individuals who stagnate. They have different practice histories. Elite performers engage in what we call “deliberate practice”–an effortful activity designed to improve individual target performance. There has to be some way they’re innovating in the way they do things.”

After absorbing these assertions, I realized that I had actually witnessed a rather strange variation of what Ericsson was describing. Several years ago, Matt and I had the opportunity to hire what we intended to be a “Director of Sales” for our small search engine marketing firm. This was around the time of the emergence of PPC search engine marketing as the dominant approach in the industry and we were convinced that with our continued organic search success we lacked only a successful salesperson to position ourselves as a highly profitable company. After a referral from a trusted source and a brief round of interviews, it was clear that our choice was going to be “Sunny”, a seasoned salesman that had worked in the offline sales industry for over a decade. Although Sunny was certainly not a polished interview and wasn’t quite what we envisioned when we began the hiring process, his experience was far greater than any of the other candidates and, as mentioned, he came with a strong personal recommendation from a trusted colleague.

Shortly after hiring Sunny, it became clear that he was never going to be able to assume the role of a true “Director of Sales”. He was never going to be able to conceptualize a sales or marketing strategy, let alone try to implement one. He was almost completely computer illiterate and was glaringly disorganized and cluttered in the midst of a small office where organization was never emphasized. Yet, as we quickly assessed and evaluated Sunny’s shortcomings as a hire, it was also very clear that he possessed one indisputable ability. Sunny could sell.

And I’m not talking about sit-down meetings with company executives hammering out the details of a deal or up-selling existing clients on expanded service offerings. Sunny was literally cold-calling companies and offering organic search engine marketing services to whomever answered the phone. Inevitably and inexplicably, he would climb up through the layers of customer service and management to reach the decision-makers and at least pique their interest in our service. At that point, because Sunny never fully understood what exactly our service offerings were (not an exaggeration), he would clumsily hand off the communication to Matt to close the deals.

While this method was far from efficient, it was extremely effective. Sunny generated an enormous amount of business in a very short time. And the amazing thing to me was that Sunny always had the same bumbling, unorganized approach to every sales call. I overheard countless conversations that began with a brief introduction followed by Sunny laughing loudly at himself for having mispronounced the name of the company he was calling or asking for the wrong person. And this was no act. He was exactly the same way in conversation both inside and outside the office. I can only guess that his awkward approach served to put his contacts at ease and allowed him to explain a little more about his service than if he were a polished salesperson calling with a fine-tuned pitch. We all hang up on those callers every day.

I would attribute his success to dumb luck were it not for the fact that I watched him execute this approach with consistent success, even with industry-leading companies that I was certain would never give him the time of day. Sunny had unwittingly created the “deliberate practice” that Ericsson notes above. Sunny’s approach flew in the face of conventional wisdom, especially when you consider the fact that he was selling a relatively niche service in an industry that was flooded with competitors. He was truly selling himself, but not as a business professional or a knowledgeable salesperson. He was simply selling a self deprecating and quirky sense of humor that must have in some way added just enough fun to a boring day at the office to keep potential clients interested. His knowledge of our services never advanced beyond the most basic level, and it never mattered.

I can’t bring myself to call what Sunny had talent. I think that’s just too much of a stretch. What he did was create a method of selling that was entirely honest and focused almost exclusively on his unique personality. Selling our service was practically an after-thought, even though it was “what he was talking about”. His personality would drown out almost any topic of conversation, regardless of the setting. I would never recommend anyone attempting to implement his approach to selling and I doubt that anyone could. But it’s an excellent example of how a slightly innovative approach can deliver amazing results, even when the person executing the approach is not the most talented.

Tags: fast company, talent

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