Perseverance, not looks or talent, key to excellence
By IANSWednesday, March 31, 2010
WASHINGTON - We tend to link brains, beauty, luck and capital with highly successful business people.
However, a new study shows that exceptional performance need not depend on special talent, experience or even sheer luck.
Instead, it is the result of sustained, intense and deliberate practice in a particular area, says Robert A. Baron, professor of management and psychology in the University of Iowa who led the study.
The study authors show that most people work only “hard enough” to achieve a certain performance level, acceptable to themselves and others, with no further gains.
The path to true excellence can be attained through perseverance, says the study.
Entrepreneurs can acquire new capacities that can assist them in starting or running a new venture or allow them to adapt to unforeseen circumstances, says a statement from the University of Iowa.
These factors help secure a positive outcome: preparation, repetition, self-observation, self-reflection, and continuous feedback on results. And these efforts lead to a healthy self-efficacy.
The study was published in the March issue of Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.
