The Keep-Getting-Better-Focus N° 5

Exec
Talents
Coaching.

A famous (and, of course, very talented) pianist, looking back at his life, once said: Sometimes I wished I hadn’t had so much talent. This way I might have earlier started serious practicing. And I might have earlier been able playing as good as I had the talent to play. Not just technically flawless, at times even brilliant. But playing with a heart. With a soul. While wrestling with adversities, troubles, weaknesses. I would have earlier been not just a good musician but a true human being: In need. In search. Suffering, not merely triumphant. And having something to tell about it. — That’s it: Talent is forceful, enabling, empowering. But also: Hindering. Plus – and very different from what some talents think – it’s hard work. Even more: It’s an obligation for hard work. It needs care, tending, pruning. It needs humbleness, self-reflexion, understanding.

So, talents, come on: Don’t waste your talent (and time) – grab yourself a good coach. To grow as good (a human being) as you have it in you to be.

Two Thornton Wilder sentences, from his novel »The Eighth Day«:

// There are few things so conducive to despair as seeing the recurrence of weaknesses in us; it enables us to read the future. //

// They were accustomed to being desired; it was something new having to listen. //

Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)
American Writer — From his 1967 Award Winning Novel »The Eighth Day«