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Interview: Daniel Coyle
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Daniel Coyle
Coyle is a contributing editor for Outside magazine and the author of three books, including the New York Times bestseller Lance Armstrong’s War. He has written for Sports Illustrated, The New York Times Magazine, and Play (including a March 2007 cover story which sparked The Talent Code), and is a two-time National Magazine Award finalist. Coyle lives with his wife, Jen, and their four children in Homer, Alaska. His published works include the aforementioed Lance Armstrong’s War: One Man’s Battle Against Fate, Fame, Love, Death, Scandal, and a Few Other Rivals on the Road to the Tour de France and most recently, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How.
Here is a brief excerpt from my interview of Coyle. The complete interview is also available.
Morris: As a father lf four and grandfather of ten (so far), I have a special interest in knowing your response to this question. What are the implications of the talent code insofar as pre-collegiate education (especially at grade levels K-4) concerned?
Coyle: The talent hotbeds I visited are proof of the importance of the early years, for two reasons. First, the moment of ignition – when someone falls in love with a task – happen at a surprisingly young age. The moments when our own identities become linked with those of the people around us – when we decide we want to become a great musician, or writer, or businessman – happen at a surprisingly young age. To be in a rich environment, full of role models (think of a child growing up in Florence during the Renaissance, or a kid playing baseball in the Caribbean today), is like a turbocharger.
That’s not to say it can’t happen later – it does all the time. But with youth comes opportunity.
The other implication, I think, has to do with the way we teach. In our culture we are taught (in books, in movies, in school) that talent is something you are born with. But the lesson of the talent hotbeds – indeed, of modern neurology – is vastly different. Schools like KIPP that teach that the brain is a muscle – that you have to stretch and reach and struggle and repeat in order to grow your skills – succeed because they are telling kids the truth about themselves.
For the last 150 years, our culture has been ruled by the idea of the gene. I hope for the next 150 years a new idea might take hold – that of the 100,000 miles of wiring contained inside each human mind. That 100,000 miles (enough to encircle the earth four times) is a true measure of human potential.
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If you wish to read the complete interview, please contact me at interllect@mindspring.com.
Coyle invites you to visit http://www.thetalentcode.com.
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