Dan Sullivan, president of Strategic Coach, reviews The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle.

Dan Sullivan, president of Strategic Coach, reviews The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle.

Focusing on the brain science behind how talent develops, this book provides both startling revelations and practical advice on how to reach a “genius” level of performance in any area.

The author focuses on the role of myelin, a type of living tissue in the brain that insulates the circuits we develop when we learn a new task, enabling them to operate more quickly and efficiently. It advocates breaking down tasks into small “chunks” and perfecting these through constant repetition until the myelin has built up to a point where they are basically automatic. Chunks can then be strung together into increasingly complex combinations to create stunning abilities such as those of a sportsman like Michael Jordan or musician like Yo-Yo Ma.

“Chunking” describes how I’ve seen many of the most successful businesses grow. Over many years, entrepreneurs take action, note the results and the responses of their clients, learn, and do it better the next time. As they perfect each aspect of their performance, they add new capabilities.

This continues until they’ve created a process that works, and is also virtually impossible for competitors to replicate. That’s because it is an incredibly complex evolution of their own abilities, focused on the needs of a certain target market.

This book serves to demystify a large part of what allows entrepreneurs and their companies to become exceptionally good at what they do. I know I will be thinking about its implications for a long time to come.