Is there a formula to measure talent?

Corporate talent is not high intelligence or fame; it is the capabilities— skills, knowledge, and expertise—required to multiply business value

- P.V. Ramana Murthy

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, hailed as a child prodigy, was said to have played the harpsichord by age four and composed music at five.

At 14, after hearing ‘Misere’ at the Vatican, he reportedly transcribed the entire piece from memory that same night...

Closer to home, Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of history's greatest self-taught mathematicians, obsessively studied advanced mathematics from an outdated textbook at 16 years old. His brilliance led to.... groundbreaking theories used globally today.

These individuals embody a unique, almost unexplainable prowess—what we call ‘talent’. Whether born or developed, their exceptional abilities leave an indelible mark. When we talk about talent, it's easy to grasp the concept when we think of individuals like Mozart or Ramanujan. But what does talent really mean in the corporate world? Are some people born with the skills for corporate success or do these abilities emerge through education and experience’...

While we readily admire talent in musicians, artists and athletes, the idea of it in the corporate space is far more elusive.

In many organizations around the world, talent is often equated with ‘high performers’ and ‘high potentials’. But...performance is fluid—it can fluctuate. This raises an important question: is talent itself a variable? Can a person's potential really shift so easily with changing performance? If it can, how can organizations track it, especially when potential is hard to measure...?