MICHAEL FRIDJHON: The wines of the fathers
Having access to a winery should help next generation get a head start towards acquiring the ‘10,000 hours’ needed to achieve competence
There is little to substantiate the theory that skills such as painting or making fine wine are in any meaningful way inherited. Perhaps early exposure to the artistic side of creativity creates a focus that in time can be cultivated and then honed to the level of a craft. Growing up with access to an artist’s studio or a winery should, at the very least, give the next generation a head start towards acquiring Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hours” of application necessary to achieve the requisite competence.
The case for genetics appears unsupported from an empirical perspective, notwithstanding a few exceptions: we have the Bruegels, who became something of a dynasty of painters. Interestingly, Pieter Bruegel the Elder died aged 45. The sons who succeeded him in “the family business” were both younger than five at the time of his death — so they could hardly have learnt their craft from their father...
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