Dr. K. Anders Ericsson - Expert Performance and Leadership

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K. Anders Ericsson is a Professor of Psychology at Florida State University. He is a pioneer in the study of expertise and the notion of "deliberate practice" as a core process for achieving expert performance. We discuss how his work, may translate to leadership and leadership development. Our conversation highlights several opportunities and considerations for aspiring leaders or leadership educators. In fact, for some practitioners and scholars, it could constitute their life's work...

Quotes from This Episode

• "I would say that too many people are really looking for compliments. But basically, they're really not interested now and getting genuine reactions to what they were doing that if they actually wanted to get better they should pay attention to the things that they could improve as opposed more or less getting comments that make them feel good about what they just did."
• "And I think that's one of the signs that I would argue, has been true here for all the people that I would call expert performers, is that they actually are actively seeking feedback."
• "And it seems to me that the first step is actually recording and ideally by allowing our videotapes to be made, so you actually now have something that can be built up as a knowledge base."
• "Some of the experts I've talked to, are willing to share things that they did incorrectly. And I think that's the ultimate kind of confidence sign is that you have a good sense of what you can do. So you can actually show how you made mistakes when you started out, that will now actually be very helpful to other individuals who are in a similar stage of their career."

Resources/Links to Discussion Topics:

• K. Anders Ericsson - Florida State University
• Book - Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise
• Article - The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance