This is hidden brain.
Im Shankar Vedanta.
Many years ago, two researchers at Harvard noticed something interesting at their universitys Peabody Museum of Natural History.
It was a description about a pair of 19th century german glassmakers, it read, descended from a long line of bohemian glass artists.
Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolph, were gifted with such extraordinary skill and passion for their work that one might argue these attributes were indeed in their blood.
The researchers, Chia Jung sai and Mahzarin Banaji, were curious.
When we say someone is gifted, does it matter whether their talent is the result of hard work or natural ability?
Would we see Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka differently if their skill and passion was not in their blood?
In an experiment, the scientists asked more than a hundred musical experts whether innate talent or hard work was the more important factor when it came to musical ability.
The expert said no contest.
What matters is hard work, hours of practice.
But when the musical experts were asked to compare two pieces of music, one of which featured a pianist who was said to work very hard at her craft and another from a musician who was just naturally gifted, the experts gravitated to the piece of music said to come from the performer who was naturally gifted.
They thought her music was more beautiful.
In truth, both the performances that the experts heard were by the same pianist.
But the music seemed more impressive when it came from someone who was described as a natural talent rather than someone who was described as a striver.
Today, we explore our love affair with brilliance thats in the blood, and we examine how these beliefs shape the organizations where we work and study and play the genius trap.
This week on Hidden Brain, many episodes of this program explore the gaps between our perception and reality.
What is true for individuals is also true for organizations.
Schools, nonprofits, and companies want to encourage excellence and spur success.
But what they think they are saying to encourage those things is often not what's heard.