Deliberate Practice Makes Perfect Ricardo is an associate financial analyst in a large financial order to motivate all of its employees to work on solving this consulting firm. He works in the emerging markets division issue. After several rounds of assessment and interviews, the developing low-cost products for the Southeast Asia region. top two finalists will be invited to present their ideas to the He was selected for this position because of his wide range of CEO who will make the final decision regarding the winner of skills, relevant experience, and analytical abilities. the competition. The winning team will receive a substantial During his time at the firm, he has worked on a variety cash prize alongside significant prestige. of projects and has become well respected among his peers. Ricardo sees this as the perfect chance to impress his He is satisfied with his job and with his progress so far, but he colleagues and supervisors and to establish himself as a top strives to work on more challenging projects, wants to make a performer. This competition presents the ideal circumstances greater impact, and seeks a leadership-centered role. Ricardo for him to not only prove himself but also really shine. He and has a strong drive and eventually hopes to get a position at his team are incredibly excited about this opportunity and the highest levels of the organization. have been working tirelessly on this project. Ricardo's strong In recent years, the firm has remained stable but has math and finance background help him come up with a struggled with growth. The recent economic downturn comprehensive and complex algorithm that seems to be changed the financial landscape and is requiring new and surprisingly effective in predicting risk. Each member innovative solutions to common issues such as reducing and contributes to different aspects of the project and together calculating risk. As a result, the firm decided to launch a com- they create a strong proposal that they believe is worthy of pany-wide competition for the best risk assessment model in winning the competition. 104 Part II System Implementation Ricardo emerges as leader of the group due company and that he has the potential to become the to his detailed knowledge and understanding of its most successful as well. However, he will need to proposed model. He is excellent at motivating and overcome his fear of public speaking and develop his guiding his small team, but he gets very nervous in presentation skills in order to win this competition and formal situations and speaking in public, which reach his goals. Ricardo is committed to improvement questions his ability to influence people. He knows and to becoming a top performer, and he understands that part of the selection process will involve that this will require a considerable amount of time and presenting his team's idea to different departments dedication. However, he hasn't heard of the concept of and important stakeholders and that he will be deliberate practice and is unsure of how to get the most expected to take the lead during these presenta-_ value out of the time he dedicates to improving his tions. He also knows that the key to passing through performance. each round of the selection process will be to get people on board with their idea and convincing them 1. Based on the concept of deliberate practice, of its potential. list the five steps that lead to excellence. You are Ricardo's manager, and he comes to you 2. Provide Ricardo with specific recommendations for advice and guidance about the current situation. You on how he can "deliberately practice" his presbelieve that he is one of the brightest employees in the entation skills