My experience growing up was similar to the author’s, and that “raw talent” was something I learned to focus many years later. “Talent” is often something seen by other as natural or spontaneous, when in reality it’s the result of years of passion, dedication and focus towards improvement.

Often times if someone has the impression “That piece only took you “X” hours to draw”, I tell them yes, but it took me 30+ years to be able to draw a piece in “X” hours.

We wrote a blog on how to apply this understanding to building a team and to your own success:
Building Loyalty through Success: Talent Vs. Skill

There are a lot of people with the talent to write. There are very, very few who are willing to put in the hard, agonizing work necessary to do so.

Granted, almost anything — from writing to playing the Andean Nose Flute — probably comes easier to some people than others. And that’s not a bad definition of talent.

But talent without work and application means absolutely nothing at all. I say that as someone who’s made a living as a free-lance writer for the last 25 years.

It’s instructive to look at the documented differences between Asian and American students in this regard. Americans believe in talent, Asians (Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese, etc.) believe in work. When American students fail at something they tend to think it’s because they don’t have the talent. The Asians typically think they didn’t work hard enough and redouble their efforts. Guess who’s more likely to succeed.

Yes, aptitude is worth something. But not nearly as much as we like to think. Your friend the ‘talented’ database programmer is highly unlikely to have been successful simply because he has innate talent. He got to where he is by working long and hard at it.

Sure, if someone says “you’re so talented,” you probably won’t have a sense of what they really mean unless you ask them to explain themselves, which can be awkward. But creativity is very mysterious to those who don’t employ it primarily in their jobs, and I have had many experiences where it’s been spelled out to me that I’m fortunate not to have to actually work like everyone else does - design just pours out of me. That stings.

This is why I try to never let a client or potential client see me actually working on a design project - not even simple text edits or color changes, if possible. When that happens, they see technical skills at work, and the creative sensibility behind them remains transparent.

Louisa, I like your approach - I do believe everyone has a ton of unused creativity. Maybe acknowledging it helps increase understanding across the board. I did buy Art is Work - let me know if you review it, and I’ll let you know my feedback, too.