Teachers and Quarterbacks

Malcom Gladwell wrote a post that discusses the similarities between the way teachers and quarterbacks are hired and evaluated. Gladwell’s a blowhard. Frankly, except for careers in which you’re evaluating people based on a set of physical characteristics for which there is no adjustment (i.e. ballerina, horse jockey), you’re ALWAYS evaluating someone based on their ability to “get it” and to actually perform the functions they’re being asked to perform. This isn’t a revelation, it’s a given.

In that same vein, as you move from level to level, an individual isn’t going to always prosper. People will rise to the level of their incompetence. The same star quarterback that can read a west-coast offense isn’t going to perform the same when you change the rules to NFL pro rules, change the game strategies, change the players and personalities, and change the calls that the different type of coaches will make. The same could be expected if you pull a college professor out of his lecture hall and put him in charge of teaching kindergartners to read. Different game, different results.

The one commonality — which Gladwell somehow brilliantly misses, circling it so many times that it’s highlighted to the rest of the world without Gladwell himself even addressing it — is that to be at the top of the heap, either a teacher or a quarterback MUST have a passionate love of their art, fascination with their daily duties, and the drive to execute them with flair and elan. Note that I didn’t say flawlessly — a career is an art form in a way in that some of the biggest accidents can be the biggest successes.

Gladwell made two long posts on the topic. Except for the new media douchebags that fill his little bubble, the rest of the world had one thing to say in reply: Du-uh.

Gladwell’s post was found via Kottke.