One of my most respected young achiever, Toyin Subair, CEO of HiTV delivered a speech at a conference in Lagos Business School a couple

of months back and he made reference to an article Dr David Oyedepo referred him to many years back as one of the best things he has ever

laid his hands on.

The complete article is here: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391794/index.htm

But lemme quickly highlight the key points in case ure unable to read d full article


WHAT IT TAKES TO BE GREAT
Research now shows that the lack of natural talent is irrelevant to great success.
The secret? Painful and demanding practice and hard work.

For one thing, you do not possess a natural gift for a certain job, because targeted natural gifts don't exist. You are not a born CEO or investor or chess grandmaster. You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years. And not just any hard work, but work of a particular type that's demanding and painful.

Scientific experts are producing remarkably consistent findings across a wide array of fields. Understand that talent doesn't mean intelligence, motivation or personality traits. It's an innate ability to do some specific activity especially well.

The article goes on to discuss these key points:
1. No substitute for hard work
2. Practice makes perfect
3. The skeptics
4. Real-world examples
5. The business side
6. Adopting a new mindset
7. Be the ball

Why?
If great performance were easy, it wouldn't be rare. Which leads to possibly the deepest question about greatness. While experts understand an enormous amount about the behavior that produces great performance, they understand very little about where that behavior comes from.

The authors of one study conclude, "We still do not know which factors encourage individuals to engage in deliberate practice." Or as University of Michigan business school professor Noel Tichy puts it after 30 years of working with managers, "Some people are much more motivated than others, and that's the existential question I cannot answer - why."

The critical reality is that we are not hostage to some naturally granted level of talent. We can make ourselves what we will.

Maybe we can't expect most people to achieve greatness. It's just too demanding. But the striking, liberating news is that greatness isn't reserved for a preordained few. It is available to you and to everyone.