Psychology of expertise

Anders Ericsson

1947 – 2020

Deliberate practice requires a task at the edge of capacity and feedback close enough to the act to be usable. Most senior roles supply neither.

Read alongside: Shape

Start with
Peak (2016)
Where they resist the book
The research comes from domains with clear feedback — music, chess, sport. Leadership has none of that clarity, and the transfer is contested.

Works worth the time

Peak · 2016

With Robert Pool. Deliberate practice stated for a general reader, including what it requires that most work does not supply.

Where Ericsson appears

V. The PracticePsychology

Expertise degrades without feedback that can wound.

Deliberate practice requires a task at the edge of capacity and feedback close enough to the act to be usable. Most senior roles supply neither, which is why experience and judgement diverge with seniority unless something is deliberately built to keep them together.