Talent doesn’t always win. Four years ago Spain captured their first world cup title. Folks were expecting them to do it again this World Cup. With some of the best players in the world and a large part of the rosters of highly acclaimed Real Madrid and Barcelona, people predicted Spain would make another deep run. However, they didn’t. They exited after an embarrassing loss to the Netherlands and two lackluster efforts to follow. England and Italy, two other nations with lengthy resumes made similar exits while making way for smaller less talented teams to advance.These early exits serve as an important reminder for businesses: Talent alone doesn’t guarantee success. It takes more with things such as effort, innovation and strategy immediately coming to mind.

天赋不代表胜利。四年前西班牙第一次获得世界杯冠军，很多人期待他们能够卫冕成功。西班牙队拥有世界上最好的球员，还包括皇家马德里和巴塞罗那阵容中的一大批主力，所以人们预测西班牙可以再一次获得佳绩。但是他们没有，在经历惨败荷兰和另外两场平淡的比赛之后被淘汰出局。同样拥有华丽阵容的英格兰和意大利也被天赋上不及自己的球队所淘汰。这些失利对企业是很重要的警示：仅仅有天赋不能保证成功。还需要努力，创新和敏捷的思维策略。