This profile of Olivia Fox Cabane in Matter offers an interesting take on the question of whether charisma, which we usually think of as an innate quality, can be taught — something Ericsson talks about in his HBR article.

Largely through introspection, Cabane developed an alternative definition of “charisma” that breaks the process down into three sets of skills: technical, external and internal. She argues that to be truly charismatic one needs all three sets of skills, and that internal skills are the key: learning to understand and manipulate one’s own feelings to prevent them from leading to socially awkward behavior.

Maybe you can learn these skills and be charming in crucial social situations, but is that really the same thing as having charisma? Or is it more like learning to fake it convincingly? Maybe for charismatic people these skills come easily and naturally, while the rest of us have to work at it. You can fool other people, but you can’t fool yourself.

Here’s an interesting article on how General Electric is applying ideas from lean startup and focus on rapid learning in product development (a type of deliberate practice with those refrigerators).

“The feedback was hard for the engineers to hear, but it made a huge impact on them. In January 2013 the team came out with a “minimum viable product.” They put it out in front of customers, and … the customers didn’t like it. The first feedback they got was that the stainless steel was too dark. So they made it a lighter shade of silver. Then the lighting tested poorly. They revised it and tested it again. They cycled through several product iterations. By August they had version 5, and customers started to like it. They built 75 of version 6 in January 2014 and response so far has been positive. They’re now working on version 8, which they will produce in October, and version 10, with better lighting, and there is a design projected for 2015. They intend to launch new products every year.”