You likely read that title and said to yourself, "This yahoo calls his web site SmartPastor and he thinks it is an either/or scenario?"  Of course it is not an either/or scenario, but how does one balance the two?  How much is giftedness and how much is hard work and personal development?

According to Psychologist Carol Dweck, we should emphasize the area of development, effort, and improvement more so than a person’s gifts.  When people (ourselves and others) fail we need to chalk it up to a lack of effort and not a lack of ability.  If people think a lack of talent at the root of their failure, they are much more likely to give up. 

Of course their is a need for honest assessment…no amount of effort would get me in the NBA, but it seems to have been established that people who think they are not good enough…yet…at something achievable will be the ones that keep going and ultimately achieve.

If this is true, it has profound effects for how we talk to ourselves and how we talk to the people we lead. 

You may not agree with this, but you have to read it.  It is quite thought provoking.

You can check out the article here: http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html

Thanks to http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/03/the_effort_effe.html for tipping me off to the article.

Check out the book this article is based off of, here.