Accessing the Magical World of Talent
“A team where all the players accessed their talents to the same degree as Wayne Gretzky did on-ice would be a great team capable of achieving anything it put its collective mind to. This is true I think for any kind of team, whether a sports team or a business. As business leaders we are the head coaches of teams of talented people with immense potential. The talent of great coaches is to bring out the talents of great players.”
Wayne Gretzky, arguably the greatest hockey player to ever have donned skates, is now in the business of building other great players. As captain of one of the most storied sports dynasties in history, he set and still holds every major kind of record for scoring and assists. Now at the helm of a new franchise, he is developing his greatness off-ice. The Phoenix Coyotes are threatening to climb out of the NHL basement and into the playoffs.
Gretzky had a legendary talent on-ice. He had the seeming mystical ability to float through the defense like a ghost. He was frequently in the right place at the right time, in the perfect position to make an improbable pass or sneak the puck in the net at some improbable angle. Many other players could shoot and skate as well or better, but they lacked his magic.
An often proffered explanation for these feats of brilliance was not physical: the genius of Wayne Gretzky resided not so much in his hands and feet but in his head. His true talent seemed to be an almost psychic sense of anticipation. While many other skaters chased the puck where it was, he went to where it would be. And he made it look easy.
“Going where the puck will be” is a talent. Talent is a natural ability that seems to be indecipherably unique and mysterious. People with great amounts of it often do not even know how they do what they do, they just somehow know. Great talent appears effortless.
We all have talent and we all access our talent at different levels. What makes people great is the extent to which they express their talents in valuable ways — the extent to which they express their potential for greatness.
The ultimate talent may lie in teaching other people to use their talent and to learn from the talents of others. But people with a great amount of talent in one area often lack it in others. Michael Jordan would run circles around Phil Jackson and Butch Harmon would get his ass kicked on the greens by Tiger Woods.
The Great One did not shine behind the bench as he did on the ice, but he did author the dream team that earned a Canadian Gold Medal in Salt Lake City and has assembled a young team of potential superstars in Arizona. “Great Coach” did not materialize as well as “Great Player” did and as not as well as “Great Owner and Manager” seems to be.
What is the difference? Greatness is a choice. I think it is possible, though perhaps very challenging, to model, articulate and teach talent. This is precisely what great coaches do. And if great coaches can bring out the greatness in their players, it is possible to model, articulate and teach the traits that bring out the greatness in coaches.
One potential block to developing talent is the unique and magical quality of it. Talent is part of a person’s mystique. Figuring out a way for anyone to access it and become great makes it seem common, less special and thus without value.
People become who they choose to be. Anticipation is at the heart of reading the ice and showing up magically with the puck in a glorious position to make the play. While Wayne Gretzky may have been born with large amounts of it in addition to his obvious physical endowments, it is a human trait that everyone has and can develop. A Gretzky clinic for young players called “How to go where the puck will be”, would have obvious value.
A team where all the players accessed their talents to the same degree as Wayne Gretzky did on-ice would be a great team capable of achieving anything it put its collective mind to. This is true I think for any kind of team, whether a sports team or a business. As business leaders we are the head coaches of teams of talented people with immense potential. The talent of great coaches is to bring out the talents of great players. And that is higher purpose, higher profit.