115: Joe Baker on the tyranny of talent

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Jan 18, 2023

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INSIGHT

Talent’s Historical Grip On Sport

The concept of 'talent' is historically rooted and used inconsistently across sport systems.
This inconsistent framing creates a tyrannical influence on athlete development decisions and structures.

INSIGHT

Early Selection Amplifies Inequality

Resource limits and human cognitive biases combine to make early talent selections misleading.
Early selection magnifies inequality by giving chosen athletes better training, opponents, and coaches, which drives later success.

ANECDOTE

Leicester City: Chance Unlocks Opportunity

Leicester City's academy example shows chance and alternative routes can reveal stars overlooked by standard pathways.
Randomness and being in the right place at the right time often explain unexpected breakthroughs.

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This week’s guest is Joe Baker

Joe is a Professor at the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University in Toronto

Joe’s work specialises in optimal human development, largely to understand how someone gets to, and stays at, the highest levels of performance. This means he works in the areas of skill acquisition, talent identification and athlete development. He has recently written a book called the Tyranny of Talent, which pokes and probes of the ideas of what talent is, how it is typically thought about, worked with and developed (or attempted to be developed) in many elite environments. What are the pitfalls, pivot point and priorities in supporting people all the way through their athletic, sporting and exercising journey.

Joe is a true expert in the field and he brings an erudite wisdom to this discussion, but he is also active in helping others switch their mindsets to begin to think again about how we can develop people.

Links

Link to The Tyranny of Talent - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1738644103 Link to Joe's page at York University - https://www.yorku.ca/professor/bakerj/ Joe on twitter https://twitter.com/bakerjyorku Hi, I'm Steve Ingham Sports and Performance Scientist co-founder at Supporting Champions. I have the privilege of supporting over 1000 athletes of which over 200 have gone on to win World or Olympic medals. For the last 25 years I've been fascinated by, researched and applied innovative ideas to help people succeed and now I want to share those performance strategies with you. I help aspiring and professional Performance Science and Support Staff improve their skills, experience and mindset for working with sports performers through a range of online courses and an exclusive community hub https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/onlinecourse If you're working in sports performance or business and want to get support to develop your team and systems - take a look at what I offer here - https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/speaking/ Listen to the podcast https://www.supportingchampions.co.uk/category/podcast/ Links Twitter at https://twitter.com/ingham_steve Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@supportingchampions Twitter www.twitter.com/support_champs Linkedin, www.linkedin.com/company/supporting-champions Instagram https://www.instagram.com/supportingchampions/