Too Much Talent Bad?
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:17 pm
A study published this summer in Psychological Science, "The Too-Much-Talent Effect: Team Interdependence Determines When More Talent Is Too Much or Not Enough," suggests there is a limit to the benefit top talents bring to a team.
Scientific American reports on the findings:
"For both basketball and soccer, they found that top talent did in fact predict team success, but only up to a point. Furthermore, there was not simply a point of diminishing returns with respect to top talent, there was in fact a cost. . . .
Why is too much talent a bad thing? Think teamwork. In many endeavors, success requires collaborative, cooperative work towards a goal that is beyond the capability of any one individual. . . . The basketball player chasing a point record, for example, may cost the team by taking risky shots instead of passing to a teammate who is open and ready to score.
. . . Swaab and colleagues found that the percentage of top talent on a team affects intrateam coordination. For the basketball study, teams with the highest levels of top performers had fewer assists and defensive rebounds, and lower field-goal percentages."
I infer from this study that a team with a high level of talent that plays hard, plays together, plays smart, and has fun can compete and win with a squad chock full of one and dones.
Here's the URL for the article -- http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... ch-talent/ -- and for the research -- http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... ch-talent/.
Scientific American reports on the findings:
"For both basketball and soccer, they found that top talent did in fact predict team success, but only up to a point. Furthermore, there was not simply a point of diminishing returns with respect to top talent, there was in fact a cost. . . .
Why is too much talent a bad thing? Think teamwork. In many endeavors, success requires collaborative, cooperative work towards a goal that is beyond the capability of any one individual. . . . The basketball player chasing a point record, for example, may cost the team by taking risky shots instead of passing to a teammate who is open and ready to score.
. . . Swaab and colleagues found that the percentage of top talent on a team affects intrateam coordination. For the basketball study, teams with the highest levels of top performers had fewer assists and defensive rebounds, and lower field-goal percentages."
I infer from this study that a team with a high level of talent that plays hard, plays together, plays smart, and has fun can compete and win with a squad chock full of one and dones.
Here's the URL for the article -- http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... ch-talent/ -- and for the research -- http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... ch-talent/.