Talent vs Hard Work feat. Venture Capitalist Bradley Tusk

This little bit should be valuable for anyone trying to measure themselves up as a professional, but also more specifically for those of you who are looking for a job.  We are going to hear from CEO, Venture Capitalist, and author Bradley Tusk.  When looking to hire, Bradley doesn’t look deep into the candidate’s pedigree or schooling.  He prefers to learn about personality traits that are indicative of success. 

"Anyone who has had some success would tell you, yea part of it is through their talent. But, mainly it is just hard work. There is that Woody Allen quote, '90 percent of life is showing up', and I think that is right. At the end of the day, no matter how smart you are, if you do not put the work in and you're willing to take some risks then you cannot succeed. If you do all those things, even if you have a little less talent, that is okay. You can usually win. In life, it is really about hustle, instinct, street smarts, communication skills, work ethic, integrity, character. Yea, talent matters, but I think in a world where people believe that all matter are their credentials or their talents and not used to getting knocked down, in the work place, they are a lot less useful".

So, that’s just another data point for us. Hard work can compete with talent. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”.  Bradley’s message give us some assurance that there is validity to that phrase.