In the early 1990s, a behavioral scientist named K. Anders Ericsson, PhD, set out to investigate how people become experts. At the time, prevailing wisdom held that experience was the key. That is, the more time someone spent practicing something, the better they would become at doing that task. Eventually, Ericsson reasoned, an accumulation of experience—perhaps with a little help from the right DNA—culminated in expertise. But not long after Ericsson began his project, an entirely different story emerged.
