Aidan Neill

Analysis: An excessive focus on praising ‘innate’ talent in companies, organisations and society as a whole is both flawed and counterproductive. Winners are made, not born and talent is only cultivated through passion and hard work. I’m reading a book at the moment called “Bounce: How Champions are Made”. Not exactly autobiographical, but I’ve got a few years in the tank left to work with. The book’s author, Matthew Syed, focuses mainly on sporting excellence and how it is achieved, but has…

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An important tenet of many organised religions is the concept of delayed gratification. This can be seen as a measure of self-control, self-discipline and self-organisation – all of which are in theory helpful to the leading of a happy and at the same time socially responsible existence. Many psychologists, perhaps most notably Freud, tested the concept of delayed gratification on children – and it’s has been widely recognised to be an important guide to the probable future success as those…

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