We all know what talent is. In any group there seems to be at least one person who is especially good in at least one thing. It might be us -it might be somebody else.
The talent can be just about anything from skating to singing, from drawing to having a fantastic memory, from being able to easily do math problems to building a shed. Some of us can learn languages or swim or speak well or whatever. The point is that there is such a thing as talent. And here we have a problem.
In a perfect world one might hope that society would reward people with talent. That the person with ability to paint or write or play hockey would go on to use that ability to their and society's advantage. That's a perfectly logical goal.
But what we too often find is that people with talent are NOT allowed to use that talent and not only does frustration develop but society as a whole misses out on the advantages of having the best people employed in positions best suited to them.
While attending University I worked part time for a large house construction company. Our job was to clean houses prior to the new home owners taking over. The fellow that I worked with was excellent at his job and to my absolute shock I discovered that he was working at the job full time and he had a PhD in Mathematics. Why? Here was a brilliant fellow, a friendly easy going sort of person who could have easily made an excellent math teacher or worked at a management position working as a lowly cleaner. I never forgot that and to this day it bothers me! Something went wrong there. You might say he was happy so whats the problem but surely there is more to the story there.
By far the classic example of misspent talents is the very intelligent but very poor student who is unable to complete their education due to the lack of financial resources. They have the talent to go all the way to a PhD but money stops them at high school or at their first degree. What a waste. You might think that scholarships would solve that problem but the reality is that every year too many brilliant students are prevented from achieving their potential because of a lack of money.
In Canada there seems to be an active resentment against people with talent.
I think part of the problem is the unionized mindset where master agreements treat ALL employees equally. Everyone is paid the same within a qualification. There is no reward for excellence and in fact the union mindset is against excellence because it makes the other workers look bad. In school we are all taught by unionized employees who are paid exactly the same despite wide variances in teaching ability. We all remember our exceptional teachers and the really bad ones but few of us consider that both were paid exactly the same.
In the work place we have average, below average and exceptional employees. I have worked with them all. As a Manager I worked with a few exceptional employees and I always tried my best to support them. I didn't steal their ideas and pretend they were mine. I never failed to mention them when bringing an idea forward or praising them when they did something exceptionally well. But not all Managers were like that! Too many Managers feed off their exceptional employees and take all the glory themselves. I have seen Managers relaxed and at ease while their best employees are putting out 100% and carrying the section for them. But will the Manager recognize them? Often not.
My theory is that most of us are good at something. And many of us are good at more than one thing. But that overall our society in Canada does not reward talent or excellence but instead resents it -with a few exceptions. As you may have guessed I think this is bullshit. We all know of examples of where talented people had to leave Canada to obtain the recognition and rewards their talent generated. Shania Twain and Avril Lavigne come to mind but there are many more in business and professions, art and science. We may not recognize talent but the USA and other societies certainly do! In fact reps from American States will send recruiting teams up to Canada to hire our well trained and talented Nurses, Doctors and Teachers and pay them much more than they could earn here. Some of our best tradesmen have been working outside of Canada for the same reason.
The solution? Simple! Lets search out and recognize talent and organize our society so that talent is rewarded not resented. Lets educate our students based on ability not finances. Lets place the best people in positions not buddy and buddy's cousin because we know them. Will this ever happen? Absolutely not!
Horse and Train Alex Colville, Canadian- 1954