Some people have the gift of speaking. In other words, fluency could be inborn. Eloquence is a notch higher than fluency. Eloquence is knowing how to put your words together with clarity to captivate your audience. It requires more than talent. One can gain you an audience but the other sustains the audience.
You would think a good orator will be a good salesman but it is not a given. Understanding your audience, knowing what to say, when to say it, how to say it, for how long to speak, when to keep quiet and listen is not a talent. It is a skill to acquire and you must be intentional about it.
Being a fast runner does not make you a good athlete. You could be a fast runner for many reasons. You could have a sporty frame and the gene of a fast runner could run in your family, but one of the attributes of an athlete is discipline. If you won’t play by the rules, your speed counts for less without accuracy. One is a talent, the other requires skill.
The craftsman who was born into creative arts as a natural gift would do well and draw admiration from people in his early years because of his talent. If he must scale and remain relevant as he progresses, he must intentionally aspire to upgrade his skills and learn how to use modern tools to be an artist of the future that now arrives when we are still thinking.
Talent is not enough. It requires continuous learning, re-learning and unlearning to stay ‘alive’ in a disruptive world that is impatient with yesterday. That sounds more like skill. The danger in relying on talent alone is that what you got as a gift naturally could be acquired by another person who is more intentional about skill acquisition and he may be better than you.
Talent can be delusional when it fails to place a premium on integrity and value creation. Many people who value relationships can make do with a teachable average performer who listens than an unreliable talented star without a modicum of integrity, who has no respect for time. If I know you don’t care, I may not really care about how much you know.
Don’t mistake talent for skill. One can complement the other but they are not the same. Talent is natural and inborn but skill requires intentionality. It is the reason the talented singer does rehearsals to train his voice. That is why the most talented is not necessarily the most successful.
Talent is natural but skill is not. Make no mistake about it, talent can fade if it is left unused. Skill is different because it is a product of consistent learning, re-learning and unlearning. You need both. When talent meets skill, it is an unbeatable combination.
You don’t take credit for your talent, you only take credit for using it. If you don’t use your talent, you will lose it.
©️ Akin Oluwadare Jnr.
29 June 2026
