American idol & Lauren Alaina

Scotty McCreery

American idol - Didi Benami

Haley Reinhart & American idol

American idol - Tim Urban

Crystal Bowersox - American idol

American idol - Andrew Garcia

Lacey Brown - American idol

This Talent Thing (aka Simon - Part 6)

Jason-

Dude.

I think that American Idol example is a perfect framework for examining the ideas of talent and behavior, but we can move on from that.

I do not believe that I changed the topic, I believe I was making a point that applied to both talent and behavior (and competency, performance, etc.).

And my point (which you are now also making through your questions) is this...

The idea that "talent" (or behavior, competency, performance, ability, etc.) is some tangible, measurable scientific thing is horribly, horribly flawed. We all talk about "talent" like it is a gallon of milk...we all know what it is, we are all talking about the same thing and we can measure it with great precision.

That is all bullshit.

This is the same kind of fantasy that we tell ourselves and each other with all of our "best practices" lies. We have a very real habit of taking something very complex and denying its complexity. We have a very real habit of taking something interdependent and ignoring its interdependence. We have a very real habit of taking things that are correlated and assigning causality. We have a very real habit of applying static, finite principles to messy, complex, unpredictable, nonlinear, beautifully flawed human beings, their relationships, interactions and social dynamics.

It does not change the fact that we need to talk about and think about and attempt to quantify talent, but we are being dishonest with ourselves and each other when we talk about talent like it is a gallon of milk. It's not.

My understanding of, expectations of, interpretations of talent are as much about me and as much about the context as they are about the idea of "talent."

When we convince ourselves that we have perfect understanding of and perfect measure of something like "talent" we set ourselves up for a dysfunction, and we make it harder to bring real value into the organization...because when we build a barb wire fence around what "talent" is, we are locking a lot of stuff out...and that stuff that we are locking out is also as much about me and about context as it is about anything.

-joe

Simon - Part 4

Jason-

Understood. But...

1. I would be willing to wager a large sum of money that each one of the other judges on American Idol would say that those 7 behaviors also apply to them.
2. I would be willing to wager a large sum of money that we could find American Idol fans that would say that those 7 behaviors also apply to other judges...maybe in some cases more so than Simon.
   

This is a perfect example of how the concept of "talent" is far more complex, dynamic and contextual than we generally believe...and how behavior is more contextual than we generally believe. We are each different from each other and we can express the same behaviors differently.

You like Simon. You think that Simon is a good judge (talented). I would suggest to you that your evaluation of Simon is as much about you and about the people Simon is surrounded by and next to as it is about Simon and what he does. Part of the reason you like Simon is because he is seated next to someone you consider to be borderline incompetent. Part of the reason that some people like Paula is that they believe Simon is borderline incompetent.

My point here is not really even about the value of diversity, but about our evaluation of someone being influenced strongly by the context, and the contrast of who they are surrounded by (and our own preferences, tendencies and orientations). Some of us are drawn to Simon and would like to work with more people like him. Some of us are more drawn to Randy or Paula or the New Person.

The 7 behaviors you are looking for are pretty commonly appreciated behaviors...those are things that many if not most of us are looking for in co-workers...the difference is in our individual interpretations and the context. For you, Simon is the embodiment of those behaviors. As crazy as it may sound, there are people that consider Paula to be the perfect embodiment of the exact same behaviors. There are people that value those 7 behaviors, but would hate to work around Simon.

So, I believe that you could set out to hire people with those 7 behaviors and end up with a team much like the American Idol judges...or you could set out to hire people with those 7 behaviors (and what they look like from your perspective) and end up with a team that is much more like a group of Simon clones...and likely dysfunctional.

-joe

Be like Simon Cowell - Part 3

Joe,

I am going to have to disagree with you on this issue. I agree that the diversity of a team is important. The reasons I shared for why I think Simon is a good model has little to do with "what" he does or "who" he is and more to do with the way in which he does his job. I want to share my list again becuase I don't think it has much to do with the diversity of the team.

1. He is passionate about his work.
2. He's honest and he speaks his mind.
3. He has his own opinons and isn't swayed by pressure to say the popular thing.
4. He doesn't mince words.
5. He has fun at work.
6. He doesn't appologize for who he is.
7. He is good at what he does.

You can have a very compelling and functional team who demonstrates these behaviors while at the same time being diverse and varied in their experiences and talents. Simon stands out in his situation because he happens to sit next to a borderline incompetent judge, although the measuring stick in entertainment is admittedly very different than in business.

Perhpas restating my position would help. I would take a whole company full of people who demonstrate the behaviors that I believe makes Simon stand out (my list above), not a whole company full of Simons.

Peace.

Jason