The Secret Code of Talent: Part I - Figure out what kind of skill it is

Part I of a series about talent: As articulated by Daniel Coyle in his book: The Little Book Of Talent

Hi Actor,

Tip #7 of The Little Book Of Talent titled "Before you start, figure out if it's a hard skill or a soft skill" encapsulates what we will be doing in this article. Hard skill & Soft Skill? What are they?

I've spoken about Daniel's work several times before but for those of you coming to this for the first time let me give to a little intro. Daniel Coyle wrote two books pertaining to skill development. He traveled the world and visited (what he calls) Hot Spots of talent. Places that seem to be producing a large percentage of the worlds best performers. His goal? To figure out what the hell these athletes, musicians and other exceptional individuals are doing differently to the rest of us. From this study he wrote a book called 'The Talent Code' & then 'The Little Book Of Talent'. The latter book, (as stated on the books cover) provides "52 tips for improving your skills". We are taking what he discovered from watching these top performers and using it to reinvent our acting practice.

What is a HARD skill?:

"all skills are hard Lachy, If you're new to them", I hear you say. You're partially correct however when talk about "hard skills" we aren't referring to difficulty. What we are referring to is hard, concrete, firm boundary set skills, or better articulated as "High Precision Based Skills".

These are skills you might see in:

• A child: learning basic Maths or practicing their As, Bs & Cs

• An adult: learning a foreign language.

• A quarterback: practicing the perfect throw.

• A darts player: practicing hitting the bullseye.

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HARD, HIGH-PRECISION SKILLS are actions that are performed as correctly and consistently as possible, every time. They are skills that have one path to an ideal result; skills that you could imagine being performed by a reliable robot. Hard skills are about repeatable precision, and tend to be found in specialised pursuits, particularly physical ones. Hard skills are about ABC:

Always Be Consistent

Daniel Coyle

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Now: What is a SOFT skill?

These high flexibility based skills rely on adaptability and interaction.

These are skills you might see by watching:

• A stand up comic: He's up in front of an audience and reading how his jokes are landing, he pivots in a new direction when needed.

• A Football/ Soccer player: out on the field she notices a weakness in the defence, then attacks it.

• A police officer: He's on a late night patrol assessing for potential danger up ahead.

They're reading the situation, recognise a pattern & respond at lightning speed.

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SOFT, HIGH-FLEXIBILITY SKILLS, on the other hand, are those that have many paths to a good result, not just one. These skills aren’t about doing the same thing perfectly every time, but rather about being agile and interactive; about instantly recognising patterns as they unfold and making smart, timely choices. Soft skills tend to be found in broader, less-specialised pursuits, especially those that involve communication.

With these skills, we are not trying for Swiss-watch precision, but rather for the ability to quickly recognise a pattern or possibility, and to work past a complex set of obstacles. Soft skills are about the three Rs:

Reading, Recognising, and Reacting.

Danial Coyle

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Whats the point in identifying whats a hard skill or soft skill?

They both use a very different part of your brain's circuitry and therefor need to be practiced differently. You might be thinking "well great, obviously acting is all about Soft skills because it's communication based and requires us to read, recognise and react and thats that. SOLVED!". Not so fast eager reader! Although some of the many skills of acting may fall under the bracket of "Soft Skills" not all do. Plenty, in fact, fall under the umbrella of Hard Skills. There are the foundational, technical & accuracy based skills that are scattered throughout the craft of acting and ignoring them will set you up for failure big time. Accent work in particular demands specificity. So lets get to work with identifying them. Ask yourself:

As an actor what skills need to be absolutely 100% consistent every single time? Which of my skills need to be executed with machinelike precision?

These are your HARD skills.

Which of the actor's skills need to be flexible, and variable, and depend on the situation? Which acting skills depend on instantly recognising patterns and quickly selecting the optimal choice?

These are your SOFT skills.

All of this is explained further in The Little Book of Talent, although not framed specifically for the actor you can apply it to any field of interest you like. It's a very easy read. It is "little" after all. Get yourself a copy if you're interested!

NEX WEEK: We take a closer look at Hard Skills & How to practice them.

For now though, let's have a go at identifying some Acting skills in the comments section! Is it a HARD skill or is it a SOFT skill? Hit that like, share that post and if you are talking about skills this week see if you can explain what we covered here. One highly effective way of learning new material is by articulating the lessons you learn and teaching it to others - passing the knowledge on.

Talk soon,

Lachy

Disclaimer: The insights shared here are drawn from Daniel Coyle’s books 'The Talent Code' and 'The Little Book of Talent'. I’ve reinterpreted his findings through the lens of acting practice. I've also taken grabs here and there from his book 'The Little Book of Talent' to assist.

Lachlan is an Australian Actor who has been working within the industry for a decade. He’s worked in Film & Theatre.

© Lachlan Stuart 2025