There has always been an argument regarding talent being the catalyst for a person’s success rather than skill. The talent is a natural ability to do something, whereas skill is acquired based on passion.

For instance, as a small child, since childhood, you sing melodiously without any training; that’s your innate talent. However, consider a scenario where you wish to become a magnificent singer and get enrolled in music classes. Some might say, you don’t have a sweet voice, others might think you don’t have a good rhythm. But, you stay focused and continue to work on your interest, you will develop an unfathomable skill. Irreversible. This determination will take you far beyond someone that has inborn talent. According to some studies cited by famous authors like Malcolm Gladwell in his books – “The Tipping Point” and “Outliers”; it takes 10000 hours only to master any skill on this planet Earth. But, it is a theory, and some people are proving that it takes way lesser than that. The time it takes to learn a skill doesn’t matter as long as you have the inkling about your passion and determination to learn and improve. Here are some great examples of people that indeed have mastered the art of acquiring a skill and have proven that it matters more than the innate talent.

Giorgio Armani

While at secondary school, Armani aspired a career in medicine and enrolled in the University of Milan to pursue medicine. After three years, Armani left the studies and posted at the military hospital in Verona. During this time, Armani decided to choose a different career path. For the starters in 1957, Armani found a job as a window dresser at a department store in Milan. Then he became a salesman in the men’s wear department and gained valuable experience in the marketing aspect of the fashion industry. After doing it for some years, Armani moved to Nino Cerruti company and designed menswear. His skills were in huge demand, and while working in Cerruti, he also started freelancing and contributed designs to many manufacturers. In the late 1960s, he met with Sergio Galeotti who became his work partner. In 1973, Armani opened a design office and did collaborations with fashion houses to style and design clothes which provide him with an opportunity to gain experience and develop his style. In 1975, he founded Giorgio Armani Corporation with his friend, Sergio and presented his first collection of men’s ready to wear for Spring and Summer under his name. Armani introduced several product lines under his brand name, and his label became the top leading universally. He also designed clothes for more than one hundred films. And who doesn’t know about the lavish Armani watches and perfumes?

Does Armani’s career graph show that he had innate talent? No, he changed his career path and identified the one where he had an interest, eventually improvised his skill, experimented, manifested his confidence and took one substantial and risky step after another.

Brandon Stanton

Stanton majored in history from the University of Georgia in 2010. He started his career as a bond trader in Chicago. While working there, Stanton purchased a camera and started clicking photos of people on weekends as a hobby. When he lost his job in the same year, he decided to pursue photography full-time. He arranged some money from family & friends and moved to New York. Stanton created a page named ‘Humans of New York’ on Facebook and started posting pictures of the New Yorkers. After posting a woman’s photo along with the quote given by her, Stanton began adding captions and quotes to his photographs. Eventually, it evolved into full interviews which gave Stanton a story behind the photo. In 2013, his photobook was published with the same title and received good reviews. The book reached on the number one position and became the New York Times Best Non-fiction. In 2015, Stanton was invited to interview President Barack Obama.

Gunder Hägg

He was a Swedish runner and broke 15 world records in the 1940s. His father was a lumberjack, and he used to live with him in Northern Sweden. As a teenager, he loved running in the woods and eventually became curious to measure his speed. Gunder with his father mapped the 1500 metre long track, and while he ran on it, his father checked the time. Gunder’s father told that he completed the race in 4 mins and 50 seconds (considered a remarkable time), which led him to believe that he has a bright future as a runner. Eventually, Gunder started vigorous training and went on to become a premier runner. It happened because Gunder and his father shared a belief that he can hone his skill. However, many years later, Gunder’s father confessed that his actual time was 5 mins and 50 seconds – a time that wasn’t a unique sign of becoming a world-class runner. When asked about the reason, his father explained that he was worried about Gunder’s loss of passion and encouragement in running. And as we can see, the fact that Gunder’s father disinformation led him to believe in his abilities. 

The bottom line

Psychologist Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues conducted a study on a group of top performers in various field. They found that these people had at least one supportive family member who told them that they have a unique talent. When Benjamin observed the childhood of these performers closely, he found no evidence stating that these individuals had been superior to their peers, yet their parents believed in them, but isn’t that’s what most of the parents do? Then why doesn’t this phenomenon work for every child? The reason is – it is necessary to convince a child that he or she has an extraordinary talent, but the belief works when it is followed by strenuous training as happened in Gunder’s life.

As you can derive from the examples, the process is that the – parents who believe that their child is talented; they find a mentor to guide him through. The parents also supervise the child’s training. The child feels special when it gets the attention of parents, works extra hard and eventually, the practice pays off the reward in the form of a manifested skill. The child earns a reputation among peers, relatives, and the world believes that he or she always had a natural talent. Hence, as the book Peak: Secrets from New Science of Expertise also says, the innate ability has little to do with ultimate success. The secret ingredient to a person’s success lies in an individual’s contribution to deliberate practice.

“I have no special talent. I am just passionately curious.” – Einstein

The word ‘genius’ is usually associated with a stigma that either says ‘god gifted’ or ‘intelligent since birth.’ However, this isn’t the case. There isn’t any mold available that can shape geniuses out of it. It is a trait built through passion. But the question is, how do you identify that zeal? Well, it comes from curiosity to know more about a subject you are interested in. Be it dance, writing, science, geography, art or anything. For example, if you want to become an actor, you would like to learn about its different forms, postures, the exercise required for warm-up, theatre groups to join, plays happening at school, film actors and their journey, etc.

Jeff Bezos is an American entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Amazon.com. He has been renowned as the richest man in modern history since 2017. The journey of Jeff Bezos is both educational and inspirational.

Even then, the Amazon CEO had been an ordinary person for the school students in the US capital, when he went to Dunbar High School for a surprise visit. And this fact of astonishment came out when a student asked his friend, “who is Jeff Bezos?”

As per Albert Einstein’s educational philosophy, education is not about learning facts, but training the mind for thinking about ideas. It is what remains after one has forgotten what he has learned in school. The ideal purpose of education should be to create the capacity of integrated learning and an ability to use the knowledge intelligently.

If we talk about the bigger picture, education works as a catalyst in reducing poverty, improving health, providing employment, eliminating gender inequality, and overall creating a sustainable planet. Along with skill development, education also helps in inculcating human values. 

Though the million-dollar question is – Are schools enough to bring the ideal purpose into reality? As students, as parents, as educators, do we strongly feel so?

Educational Psychology is vital in today’s complex education system as this branch designs new methods of learning for students (Sir Johann Herbart is the father of this field). And it emphasises on improving and inculcating the areas of social, emotional, and cognitive development as this is the need of the hour. As 21st-century educators, parents, in this widely diverse, global world, we need to have the life skills become an integral part of students’ education. We should be able to create a drive in the students and devise a curriculum that maximises their learning potential and allows them to explore untravelled paths. 

Education in India

History of an old Indian university system

Nalanda was the oldest university system in the world. The secular institutions, alongside monasteries, used to teach practical education such as medicine. Their curriculum also entailed Vedas, logic, Sanskrit grammar, and Samkhya (one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy). The university is located in Bihar.

While we were good at what we were doing in terms of providing the right and meaningful education that was pertinent to those times for our lifestyle, but when the British were ruling India, everything got transformed into corporate-level education.

They needed clerical people, administrative people, and hence they introduced English and started the corporate education system in India.

However, after about seven decades of freedom, did India improve its education system and make it pertinent to current needs?

Schools should motivate children to aspire their dreams

Sir Ken Robinson (author, speaker, and international advisor on education) once told in a session an instance from his life – Mr Paul McCartney was in the same school as him. However, he did not know him then. When Sir Robinson was writing his book ‘The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything,’ he interviewed many people. One of them was Paul McCartney – the English Singer and Co-lead vocalist of a band, The Beatles. 

During the interview, Mr Robinson asked Paul that if he enjoyed the music at school, to which he refused. He wondered if the music teacher in school ever gave him some hint about his unique talent. Paul refused. 

In the same music group, there was another person named George Harrison, the lead guitarist of The Beatles. So, Mr Robinson inquired from Paul if any music teacher praised George. Paul again replied with a no. 

The crux is that music class was filled with a lot of passionate musicians or half of the Beatles band, but there was nobody to recognise them.

Despite this, the education system is still the same.

Changes required in the Indian education system

It can’t be denied that the Indian government and institutions are working hard to introduce many positive reforms to the existing education model. However, a few issues which must be taken into consideration remain. These are:

Evaluation system based on a written exam

Marks/scores/grades still play a crucial role in deciding the brainpower of a child. Due to which the pressure of getting good marks remain high on them and often led to underperforming.

The evaluation of a student shouldn’t be done based on a three-hour theoretical exam. Instead, the marks should be given on class activities, participation in projects, communication, task completion, leadership skills, and extracurricular activities.

Lack of respect and equality to all streams

Often it has been noticed even in the 21st century that most parents don’t want their kids to choose any other subjects apart from Science and Maths. There is a myth that subjects like commerce and arts are easy to grasp and don’t need much effort to qualify. Along with that, the other misconception is – people who take these subjects aren’t intelligent enough. Therefore, it becomes a matter of respect.

The truth is if you like the subject you have chosen and are passionate about it, be it arts, humanities, commerce, communications, etc. you will succeed in life in terms of fame, money and making a valuable contribution to the society.

Rote learning

The significant portion of our education system is still based on rote learning. The students who can’t mug up are left behind. Hence, the inclusion of conceptual knowledge (understanding concepts with live examples) is necessarily required in our education system.

Absence of customised learning

Schools need to understand that a square peg can’t fit in a round hole, which means the mass education system may not work for everyone. Each student has its absorbing capacity and should be handled accordingly. Some students may learn fast, while others can’t. Thus, in a class, a teacher should focus on every student, which is humanely not possible. The solution can be the adaptation of technology such as Artificial Intelligence or Chatbots that can become the helping hand for the teachers and students in knowing where they need support, what subjects they are interested in, how they can learn difficult topics, etc.

The motive of education transformed 

The idea that stuck into parents’ minds because of colonial rule is that the real purpose of education is to earn money. But each one of us should understand that the real meaning of education goes beyond making money. All successful leaders of today have higher Emotional Quotient(balancing their emotions and thinking clearly in pressure) than Intelligence Quotient(pure logical brain). This statistic is precise and needs to be considered when imparting education to students.

The bottom line

Education is more than just a school textbook or a final term grade. It’s about sparking a passion that drives you forward in life and makes you the best possible version of your self. Effective education teaches you how to hone your mindset positively, improves your communication skills, and, most importantly, enables you to help others and become a good citizen.

As James Truslow Adams said –

“There are two educations; one should teach us how to make a living, and the other should teach how to live.” 

Hence, the ideal education should cover both the aspects – academic and lifestyle. Where academics is all about curiosity and gathering knowledge, lifestyle education should teach skills related to negotiation, facing failures, time management, and making an impact. 

They say, “If your passion becomes your profession, you will be a legend“. But for this man, his passion and profession are like the forces that keep him going. People love watching him doing his job. He is the most famous youth icon for today’s youngsters and an excellent inspiration for the coming generation, not only in India but throughout the world. He is truly a legend.

When you think of Sudha Murty, what are the first things that pop into your mind? 

Easy-to-read books such as ‘How I taught my grandmother to read and other stories,’ simplicity, calm face or gentle smile or her contribution to the Infosys Foundation and not to forget her husband, Mr Narayan Murty – the founder of Infosys, right?

In the phases of turbulence and gloom, often many get swayed and take actions that turn into regret afterwards. However, motivational speakers suggest that possessing optimism quotient (OQ) is essential during the times of adversity. But what does it mean? OQ is a belief that says challenges are temporary and if actions are taken on time, the circumstances can be improved. It acts as a significant catalyst in keeping people’s life buoyant in a sea of dark times. 

The bottom line

Being optimistic at adverse situations is a hard task to perform, but a right path to choose. When pessimism takes control of us, we lose the ability to be firm. Optimism doesn’t mean to imagine that you will be happy one day without doing anything. Instead, it means to face reality, attaining which you will take an action that will make you happy in the long term.

In other words –

An optimist sees the possibilities beyond the cost of constraints on the path.

Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg, shortly Greta Thunberg, known for her campaign against climate change and global warming, became an international youth icon at a very young age. The obstacles she faced to propagate her message and the campaign she ran to execute the same deserves every young person’s attention.

Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, an Indian-American won Sveriges Riksbank Nobel prize in 2019 along with Esther Duflo[mfn]Esther Duflo is an American-French Economist who won the “Nobel Prize in Economics” in 2019. She is the second woman after Elinor Ostrom to win Nobel Prize in Economics and is the wife of Abhijit Banerjee.[/mfn] and Michale Kremer[mfn]Michael Robert Kremer is an American Economist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2019 along with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.[/mfn] for their “experimental approach to alleviating Global Poverty”. He is the second Indian to get awarded in Economics after Amartya Sen[mfn]Amartya Sen is an Indian Economist and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998 for his contribution to Welfare Economics.[/mfn] in 1998.

I am sure that all of you have heard of P V Sindhu, the Indian badminton player. She recently became the first Indian to secure a Gold Medal at the Badminton World Championship, 2019. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal are the only two Indian badminton players ever to win an Olympic medal. But did you know that her parents are professional volleyball players? Pusarla Ventaka Sindhu is the daughter of P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya from Andhra Pradesh. Her birthday falls on 5 July 1995. Her father was honoured with the Arjuna Award for his excellence in volleyball.

Let us all strive to do the best that we can in our chosen fields to achieve the greatest heights of excellence!